"Black Velvet" is one of the earliest hybrids of the native species of Purple Smoke Tree. It has its parent dark purple leaves and tends to grow as a lanky upright or multi-branched large shrub to 20' at maturity. The blooms are a showy, filament-like smoke color in the spring turning an already beautiful shrub into a majestic specimen in the landscape. This reliable hybrid is hardy in USDA zones 4 through 9. It can take full to partial sun, moist to dry sites and multiple soils including clay. The fall coloration is spectacular often with red, yellow and purple displaying on a leaf simultaneously. The shrub continues to contribute to the landscape once the leaves have fallen by providing interesting, sometimes twisted limbs of shades of dark brown and burgundy.