Possibly a tibochina? There are dwarf and small tree-like varieties. Here's a link to one that has qualities matching your description:

Tibochina heteromalla

Leaves and blossom are much smaller than tibochina. Although I pruned it pretty hard, I'll try to get a photo of the foliage. Thanks so much for the suggestion.

Hi

Without a pic it's really tough ?? lol I was thinking maybe Texas sage?? Leucophylum frutescens?? gary

I'll second the call for a photo - more than 1 would be even better - along w/ something to show scale like a hand or a ruler....

Gary, you are right. It is definitely Texas sage. Thanks to others for suggestions. This has been in a large pot for two years in a narrow spot, so I will have to get it moved now that I've seen pics online and know it is fairly broad when allowed to be natural shape. It has grown into the ground through the drainage hole, no surprise there. Yard man told me it is a tree, but I see online that it is shrub...and not upright. It was topiary when I got it, which accounts for my impression that it is upright, I guess. Hope I haven't ruined it with drastic pruning. Thanks again for your help. I hope the cuttings will root so I can share it with admiring neighbors and anyone else who wants it.

Nice that you could get it to grow. I had at least two that looked nice in the pot but withered away for years, until they died. I tried to keep them in pots first, but they were looking badly. Then, I put them in the ground. They are often seen at the local garden centers. So, either people are having successes OR they're having failures and keep buying them over and over again lol. Our soil is super acidic, and they apparently like a more alkaline soil.

If you look online, xentar, you see that it is a desert plant and doesn't want water. I didn't know that, but the pot is next to my garage door where the sprinkler doesn't hit. That's probably what made mine so happy. Now that I've read it doesn't like attention, I'm afraid I may have overdone the whack back. Hope I can find a dry-ish spot in my yard for it; otherwise it may suffer the same fate as yours. I have mainly roses and tend to prune hard this time of year.