Having moved to Toowoomba five years ago, Selin said she got a tattoo featuring a Jacaranda tree and a rainbow. “I love jacaranda trees and we don’t have them in (her native) Turkey,” she said.

In Los Angeles, no tree is more breathtaking than a jacaranda in full bloom. Its nickname of “blue haze tree” is well chosen. On a mature tree, an ethereal lavender-blue cloud engulfs its ...