It’s a fast grower that produces dense, upright panicles of flowers, up to 12 inches long, from late spring to fall. They are typically violet-blue but may be purple, pink, or white.

There's one attractive tree with historical significance and pretty white flowers, that you might like to grow in your yard ...

A moderate-to-fast-growing small evergreen (evergray?) tree, the purple-leaf acacia reaches 20 to 30 feet tall and wide. Its dense, spreading canopy is easily shaped as a single- or multi-trunk tree.

The bigleaf magnolia's flowers are huge, with six conspicuous white tepals, and they too are the largest of this continent’s native flora. Plus, they are very fragrant, a sort of flowery/peppery ...

The purple leaf flowering plum is a popular landscape tree in the Bay Area. There are three varieties planted, Prunus blireiana, Prunus c. Krauter Vesuvius and Prunus c. Thundercloud.

Iochromas show long, cylindrical flowers in red, blue or purple. Cestrum produces slightly flared tubes of wine red, pink, violet, or orange, accompanied by handsomely cut, sea-green foliage.

Alternate, simple, pointed, leathery, shiny, elliptical leaves are 6-plus inches long. Insignificant, small greenish white flowers are followed by small, blackberry-like fruit.