Ok, it's my turn for the plant ID game! I'm afraid I don't have a
picture to post, because the connector cable to the digicam is still
packed in a mystery box somewhere.

Anyhow, it is a pretty flowering plant (almost certainly a perennial) a
few blocks down the street...about 30" tall, bearing 1" flowers that
look quite "viola-like" in purple with white. The flowers are born on a
long spike, close in to the stem--rather like a hollyhock, except the
flowers look nothing like hollyhocks. The leaves average 2-4",
lanceolate, lightly crenolated, in opposing pairs. The plant as a whole
branches into multiple spikes, also in opposing pairs.

I've never seen it before, and I've got a reasonable knowledge of common
perennials. If anyone can identify this thing--which looks rather like a
cross between a pansy and a hollyhock, with maybe a touch of snapdragon
in the mix (yes, I know such a thing is not possible--that's just what
it looks like!), I'd be grateful.