Jacaranda

Jacaranda mimosifolia

“The entire tree turns purple. For weeks. In your front yard.”

There is no more dramatic flowering tree you can plant in a warm climate. The canopy goes entirely purple — thousands of lavender-blue trumpet flowers — before the leaves emerge. Streets lined with jacarandas in Pretoria and Buenos Aires are internationally famous. In Zone 9–11 across the South and West, you can do the same thing in your yard. One tree stops traffic. Plant it somewhere it can be seen from a distance.