Paul Paulsen wrote:
On recent drives to Mountain Home, Arkansas and to the Great Smoky Mountains
Nat'l Park I saw some beautiful plants which I had not seen before.
1) The first one seemed to be some type of locust tree with numerous
pink or light purple blossoms. Some were very large and others almost looked
like a bush. These seemed common along the roadsides.
2) The second were even more pretty with large clumps of blossoms at the
ends of each branch. Colors? I saw white, pink, red, deep red, and purple.
One of the locals said this was myrtle.
Please let me know what these were and what the typical growing zones are
for plants.
Thanks in advance.
Paul
Northern IL




It probably was a locust -- my guess is Robinia viscosa, or "clammy locust".

The other might have been mountain laurels or rhodedendrons.

Best regards,
Bob