You know, I think it might be Jackaranda filicifolia also known as 'The Fern Tree'! Both filicifolia and mimosafolia are similar except that mimosafolia has much paler and slightly smaller flowers. The depth of colour in your pictures look to be nearer a deep violet blue, which is the colour of filicifolia. Mimosafolia is grown widely here along the east coast of New South Wales, Australia, and in fact my old hort. teacher reckoned they grow better here than in their native Brazil. The village of Grafton here has a 'Jackaranda festival' every year - they have avenues of them. I have one in my front garden and while the gound and lawn looks lovely covered in blue flowers around November/December, I certainly don't park my car under it. Not only do their mimosa like leaves fall and get into every nook and cranny just before flowering, but the sky-blue flowers, while they look lovely as a ground carpet, can make a mess of your car. There is also a white variety. All 3 are indeed lovly trees.

According to the list published in the back of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's "Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants", 2006 edition, Paulonia tomentosa is listed as invasive in CT, DC, GA, KY, LA, MD, NC, NJ, OR, PA, TN, VA and WV. The list is drawn from the WeedUS: Database of Plants invading Natural Areas in the USA, and printed with permission of the Plant Conservation Alliance. In the last several years, more states may have listed it as invasive. They suggest, as an alternative, that catalpas or Kentucky coffee trees be planted instead. I don't necessarily say that such a listing is definitive, but will say that since the tree is listed as widely as it is, I rather think it poses a problem. While the 'Americana' cultivar may in fact not be invasive, I would want to see more documentation than that of the developer - sometimes what is perceived is what is most favorable. Keith, 3 years is not enough time to say for sure that a tree is or isn't invasive - mostly it takes longer than that for seeds to be spread around and the true nature of a plant to show up. That it IS listed in CT would seem to say that cold climates aren't a check on it.

Thanks, guys! I tried to pick the ones y'all would enjoy the most, but it was hard! A lot of the best ones have US in them, and I was hesitant to post those all over the place! But here's one or two more for ya, anyway...*throwing caution to the wind!* Marcia This is what a non-plant person does when his other half is taking hundreds of rose photos! He's working the 5-star Sudoku, and yes, that is a canyon or deep gorge behind him. Another view of the Rose Garden, with Mark & my mother. My cousin, Karen, my hubby, Mark, and my mother, Mildred, sitting amid the agapanthus on Coronado Island. Mark & I in the same place. I could have taken thousands of pictures of glorious agapanthus, jackaranda trees, bougainvillas, and roses if I could have slowed my cousin's driving down. She's a whirlwind! But even the smallest and plainest houses have glorious gardens. For an oasis in the desert, it is just a wonderland. (But I keep thinking about how it will look when that piped in water is cut off one day, I have to admit. THEN, it will be seashell gardens for everyone, I reckon!) Marcia

As has been said Jacarandas get big - about 50' tall and just as wide and they have roots that can interfere with mowing and lift sidewalks. However, when I was researching it I saw many pics (Google Images) of them in patios, etc. so maybe they can be trained, pruned. In my case, I found a 100' circle with no overhead wires I could spare and gave a 4' tall one a home in April. Its fast growing and is now over 6' and growing up but not spreading. Now I'm trying to figure out how to protect it if I get a freeze this winter. If I can keep it alive I'll start planning for what I'm going to plant underneath and forget about mowing problems.