I love seeing everyone's Plant Mysteries, and now I have one of my own.

This plant sprouted two years ago and has grown quite a bit. It may be self-sown, it may be Grant-sown (hah!), it may be something else, I'm not sure. Buuut, here's a pic from yesterday.

I thought it might be an ash tree, but you can see, it absolutely refuses to lose its leaves. I thought it *might* be some sort of Tecoma (I grow several species) but again, it is absolutely unbothered by the recent cold snap (my other Tecomas will survive, but are brown and crunchy right now). Any ideas/suggestions on an ID?

I know, I know, if it ever flowers that will help provide an ID, but I just thought for fun I would share it. I would have sworn it was an ash tree (Fraxinus) but since sprouting it has not lost its leaves in two winters now. Are there some ash trees we can grow that don't lose their leaves? By the way, there's not a single ash tree within a mile of my garden. It's in full, HOT sun, and not on a drip, so it just gets runoff from container plants on the patio, and an occasional pity spray of water from me. Whatcha think?

It's not in a great location design-wise, but it's done so well I haven't had the heart to move it, at least not until we get a good possible ID.

Let me know what you think! Again, keep in mind it survived the recent frosts unprotected and looks great. The pic is from yesterday. I didn't put the tennis ball in it to show size, but it's about 3 or 3.5 feet tall now after two years.

Happy gardening!
Grant

Thanks for the links and candidate ID's! Sorry it took a couple of days to reply--it's been a hellacious week at work. I'm really looking forward to spending some time in the garden this weekend (despite the chill in the air).

Anyway, I think you're correct about the Shamel ash ID, thanks. I thought it looked like an ash, but didn't realize that Shamels were evergreen in the low desert. This plant certainly has been evergreen. My old work had some nice ash trees nearby but they were (are) deciduous and always dropped their leaves. I guess my little mystery plant is a self sown Shamel ash, thanks again. I'd better relocate it ASAP then as it's right on the edge of the patio

Thanks again, tomato, gardeners are so generous with information, I'm always learning something every time I log in here.
Happy gardening!
Grant