Mounds of Grounds / Butterflies

The hubby bought a new coffee maker/press and now we've got mounds of grounds. Can I just add them to the garden as is?

We have one shade garden of butterfly bushes, Japanese maple, ferns, clematis, alstroemeria, eucomis and more but I don't know the names of all the plants yet. It does have a cherry tree and pippin apple tree at the other end. Another garden has coleus, lavendar, crocosmia, and another garden area with cactus-type dahlias, yarrow (small amount), etc. Will these areas benefit from coffee grounds?

Another question, seeing the list above, any suggestions for attracting butterflies? I've also got impatiens but only in a potted plant since the deer eat them. Also some wild daisies and what looks like poppies bordering the driveway. Looks like the butterfly bushes are doing their work but I'm wondering what else I could add that would attract them? We have mostly shaded areas with a few spots that get sun. Any help would be most appreciated!

Nadine

Hi Nadine, not too sure if you can just add the grounds straight onto the garden as I always toss mine into the compost box along with all my household uncooked greens, papers and peelings, so cant advise you on that, but to be on the safe side till you get the right answer, rather than throw them away, why not get even a small bucket in the garden and toss them into it and add some veg trims or fruit skins to help them rot a bit, that way you will be safe rather than sorry, I think it may be OK to just add them, but who knows what will leach out and maybe ruin your plants, I feel sure I heard someone else talk about a compost forum, maybe you could ask there, Good luck anyway, WeeNel.

I get coffee grounds from one of the coffee houses here in town. You can put them on anything and everything, and they are great. The plants all love them, especially the roses. Some people dig them into the top inch or so of soil, but I just throw them on the top of the soil around the plants.

Some people have mentioned that the grounds might be high in acid, but Starbuck's had theirs tested, and they say that the acidity is all gone by the time the ground coffee becomes coffee grounds. Frankly, this makes sense to me.

As for the butterfly question, here's a great site for that info. You can even look it up by state.

http://www.thebutterflysite.com/gardening.shtml

We have Bambi visitors, too. Bambi loves roses, but hates lantanas. I'll have to remember that about the impatiens.


Karen

I keep wishing they were acidic, but no. I do know that worms love them and that's enough for me to save them.

Thanks everyone for your replies and the helpful link. You folks are great!

The butterflies love my Liatris Ligulistylis and Stoke's Asters

I just learned from an employee at a local nursery if you place coffee grounds on the dirt around azaleas and hydrangaes it helps the acid loving plants because the PH in our water here makes it difficult for these plants to grow.
He stated the coffee grounds help actually filter out the water before it gets to the roots.

I'm going to try this and see how it works!

Karen - lantanas, are they Ginger lilies?

aspenbooboo41 - I love the Stokes' Aster
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/13275/ but it looks like they need sun. We have only filtered or minimal sun exposure.

flowerprincess - good luck on your experiment. So far, the coffee grounds are not hurting anything in our gardens. Keep us posted!