# New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus)

> A knee-high shrub for dry, poor ground, with fragrant white flower clusters in June that feed azures, hairstreaks and two bees that use almost nothing else.

Also called redroot, wild snowball, Jersey tea, Indian tea, snowbrush, soapbloom. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/new-jersey-tea/

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 2 to 3 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 4 to 8
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Dry, Average
- Growth rate: Slow
- Traits: Wildlife value, Showy flowers, Drought tolerant, Nitrogen fixing
- Natural communities: upland-dry, sandy, rocky, old-field
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

New Jersey tea is a low, rounded shrub of dry open woods, woodland edges, oak savannas and prairies from Quebec to Florida and west to Minnesota and Texas, on sand and rocky hillsides. Fragrant white flower clusters open at the ends of the stems in late spring and early summer and draw bees, wasps, flies and beetles, hummingbirds and the banded, striped, hickory, Edwards' and coral hairstreaks. Two rare mining bees, Pseudopanurgus pauper and Pseudopanurgus virginicus, collect pollen from Ceanothus and almost nothing else; the spring azure, summer azure and mottled duskywing lay eggs on it, and the duskywing caterpillar eats nothing but Ceanothus. Turkeys, quail and songbirds take the seed. Perfect for a dry sunny bank, the front of a pollinator bed or the poor ground along a driveway where nothing else has thrived.

It fixes its own nitrogen through Frankia bacteria in root nodules, which is how it thrives on ground too poor for most shrubs, and a thick red taproot goes deep enough to shrug off drought. That root also makes an established plant very hard to move, so it goes in the ground young and stays put. Colonists brewed the dried leaves as a caffeine-free tea during the Revolution, hence the name. The young twigs turn yellow and stand out in winter, and the capsules split from August on and fling the seed several feet. Deer and rabbits browse it.

## How to grow New Jersey Tea

New Jersey tea wants full sun to light shade and sharp drainage: sand, gravel, rocky loam, a bank that bakes in August. It grows in zones 4 through 8. Wet or heavy soil rots the roots, and limey ground suits it as well as acid. Plants reach 2 to 3 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide, so set them 3 feet apart.

Plant potted or bare-root plants while dormant and young, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper, crown at the soil line, native soil back in, no fertilizer; do not tease the taproot apart or plan to move the plant later. Sow seed outdoors in late fall, half an inch deep in a pot or a screened bed; it comes up in spring. For spring sowing, pour water heated to 180 to 200 degrees over the seed, soak it for 24 hours as the water cools, then hold it in damp sand in the refrigerator for 60 to 90 days. Seedlings are weak their first season, so keep them weeded.

Water weekly through the first summer if rain is short. Deer and rabbits browse it, so cage a young plant for two or three years, and keep mulch thin, gritty and clear of the crown so voles have nowhere to nest. It is built to be burned off by prairie fire and resprout, so an old, leggy plant can be cut hard in late winter; otherwise it needs no pruning.

Growth is slow, and seedlings are slow to start. The flowers are bisexual, with no separate sexes to pair. Leaf spot and mildew mark the leaves in a wet summer and rarely matter; wet soil kills it. The capsules turn brown in August and burst, throwing seed several feet, so bag a cluster before it splits if you want the seed.

## Related

- Planting-site check: https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/?species=new-jersey-tea
- Companion species: https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/?species=new-jersey-tea
- Growth estimate: https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/?species=new-jersey-tea