Had 17ft Japanese maple die. Now the spots empty. What to put here? Zone 9B, Sacramento area. South facing full sun. Summers get regularly 110 or higher. More details inside.

The Japanese Maple was already on the decline when we got the place. We have a ton of other trees around, so we have a yearly arborist visit. They said 95% of the problem is just that the Japanese Maple needs more shade and shouldn't have been planted there. Eventually it got so bad we had it cut down.

Now there is a giant awkward hole where it used to be. See graphic for "Stump".

I want something that can be a focal piece, but not sure what to get. I was thinking a Giant Bird of Paradise: Strelitzia nicolai or alba, but from what I read, they don't want to get blasted by sun. The house is grey with dark grey trim and black metal roof. So I want some bring colors to cheer it up some.

Crepe Myrtle comes to mind, trim it to single stock tree, or maybe a few more branches towards the SW.

Any other suggestions?