Tibouchina 'Princess Flower'

This is one of my favorite shrubs!  Not only is it purple, but it's the Princess Flower! (Sarah means Princess) ;o)  I know, I'm a dork.  Anyhow, this really is a beautiful show stopping shrub.  The semi- evergreen leaves are a light sage green with fuzzy hairs on them which gives them a silvery look.  The flowers are royal purple and bloom Spring through Fall in Houston.  I've read reports of this plant getting 10 ft tall, but I have never seen it past 4 ft tall here.  I think we get too cold in the Winter for it to get much bigger than that.  If we have a really hard winter, this plant may freeze back to the ground and return from the roots in the Spring.  Tibouchina likes average water and will adapt to almost any soil, but prefers a rich sandy loam soil.  Princess flower is native to Brazil, but thrives very well here in our Houston climate.

This plant made my day!  How 'bout yours?