No, It isn't a Fremontodendron, and its not actually native to California, either. Your photo displays the blooming Mexican Palo Verde, Parkinsonia aculeata. It has attractive smooth green trunks, thorny branches, and loves heat and is very drought tolerant, but a rather messy tree to garden under as it is constantly dropping the spent leaves, so perhaps is best used over planting areas and not as a patio tree. Similar trees with even greener trunks and the same bright yellow blooms would include the Palo Verde trees if the Sonoran Desert, various Cercidium species, but these aren't as commonly seen in more coastal California gardens.

Thanks to you two for helping. At first I thought the Kerria might be it from the description, but when the picture loaded I saw it wasn't. I forgot to mention that it has yellow flowers. The leaves are like in threes. The bush actually reminds me of a Lady Banks rose. My neighbor was thrilled..she's like me, she likes to find things that not everybody else has. We won't know until spring if hers is the double or single flower, though. I sure hope my cuttings take...they should, because everywhere I read about it said that they will root on their own when they touch moist soil. Anyway, it is definitely the winter jamine (jasminum nudiflorum), but I still have not found a double flowering type on the internet. I'm still looking, though, and if anyone finds one, let me know!

A member of the Solanaceae. A location would be very helpful as would pictures of the flowers when they open.

We have some of these in our back 40, so I rarely see them, but they make large trees if they survive the wood borers. The flowers have a nice aroma, and the birds like the dark bluish berries that form. In our neighborhood, the old guy who taught me about the trees here on our propertly called it woolly buckthorn or gum tree. It is known by many different nicknames. Oddly, one sprouted near our chicken coop too, likely planted by a bird, and we just saw it off at the ground about once a year. It slowly resprouts and sends out new shoots, but I can't let it grow there because it would block the walk-in door to the coop. Out back where we have left them alone, the slowly form an ever-enlarging thicket over time. They aren't picky about soil (ours are in dense, red clay) and tolerate drought (2011 didn't even kill them). Dawn