Re:Blooming Requirements for Cape Chestnut/Calodendrum capense

I recently read a thread about this tree posted by
Jason Deweese on another forum about flowering
subtropical trees, where he stated that this tree
needs warmer summer day temperatures in the 70'sF or
above to trigger bloom; and was wondering if others
would care to comment on this?  There is a fairly
large specimen of this tree planted out in the African
Hill section of Strybing Arboretum which has never
bloomed, and I have not seen any trees in warmer yet
equally winter mild parts of the Bay Area to confirm
this.  The tree at Strybing is probably 30 feet tall,
and more than 15 years old, so it would appear old and
large enough to bloom.  The only blooming trees I've
seen were in North Hollywood and Santa Monica,
California, and were much smaller in size.

I've read that cutting grown plants bloom more
reliably, and that the tree dislikes sandy soils and
windy sites, yet at Strybing it is growing vigorously
in both wind and sand, albeit with no bloom.  The
summer daytime highs are rarely above 70F for more
than a day or two at a time in this location, and
night temperatures are also consistently in the mid
50'sF in summer.  There was a matched pair of these
trees at African Hill, but one was damaged by a
falling limb of an adjacent larger Monterey Cypress
tree several years ago, and was removed.  This tree is
also supposed to be quite tender to frost, yet came
through the December 1990 freeze with no major damage,
similar to Hymenosporum flavum, which only suffered
burnt foliage.

The tree is also said to be difficult to grow, as in
group plantings the success of individual trees and
flowering times is irregular, and no avenue plantings
are said to exist for this tree for that reason.  It
is such a beautiful tree in full bloom over  2~3
months in May - July, and would appear to be a good
candidate for milder climate mediterannean gardens,
but is seldom planted here in the SF Bay Area,
although it is available. 

Do any of the people on this list have experience with
this tree, or can add to what it prefers to bloom? 
Any one know of blooming trees that can be viewed here
in the SF Bay Area?  I would vote for this tree as
being the equal of Eucalyptus ficifolia or Jacaranda
mimosifolia in bloom, and would like to see more of it around!

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