New Jersey Tea

Ceanothus americanus

New Jersey Tea was used as a tea substitute by colonists during the American Revolution. hence the name. but what's remarkable to us is how good it is as a garden plant. The white flower clusters open in late spring and early summer on a neat, compact shrub that's one of the top native pollen sources for bumblebees in our region. Rare native bees and Merton blue butterflies specifically depend on this plant. It's a nitrogen fixer that builds soil fertility, and it thrives in exactly the dry, rocky, sunny spots that stump most shrubs. Rocky slopes, thin soils, road cuts. New Jersey Tea handles conditions where more pampered plants fail. The dried seed capsules have an interesting popping mechanism for seed dispersal that makes them satisfying to pop by hand in fall.