I know that this is an answer to the above question quite a few years after the asking. Stewartia ovata and Stewartia malecodendron are the two wonderful native American species in the genus Stewartia. We grow both species.... How they got in our American south eastern woods is a question for paleobotanists to answer. Probably a remnant population from when the continents were connected many of 100 of millions of years ago, when the Asian continent was connected to North American continent...that far back! These two species are all that is left of perhaps quite a few other species of Stewartia that may have developed during the ensuing million of years. We will never know how many species and perhaps even genus of plants were killed off by the persistent burning of eastern forests by early native Americans, the eruption of the volcanic caldera at Yellowstone , which covered forest land all over central America with large amounts of ash ( we are due for a big eruption,one is coming soon!!!!!) and by later European land clearing over the last 400 years or so. . We will never know..... Imagine the plants that were lost....The oriental species are far more easy to germinate than these two American natives. Stewartias native to the U.S. are much like the only two peony species native to North America, P. brownii and P. californica. These two species of peony are the eastern most members of the genus. These rare native herbaceous peonies arrived here in North America around 50 million years ago through the Bering land bridge, perhaps carried by animals , or perhaps by birds. These two native species of Stewartia and the two native species of peony both require special warm cold treatments, a protracted warm period, followed by a lengthy cold period. Again, we grow both of them..... a challenge, to say the least.

Whaas, mine has been fine too in Z5. Like Idabean said, we were both surprised as to the flowering. I waited a number of years for flowers and was thrilled this year with the tree covered with buds. Only to have it bloom a handful of flowers per day. Still, the flowers were beautiful, even after they fell off the tree and were laying in the garden. And I really like the bark and excellent fall foliage of this tree. So even though I didn't get my hopeful burst of bloom (because apparently I missed this post last year) I'm still happy with the tree overall. I have it planted with some Japanese maples and it works nicely with them. I also have no deer damage.

Right, as Sue said, it just isn't vigorous and has been tough to propogate. I got very interesting comment on it from Jed from Olivers (who as you might know is willing to offer you ANYTING new and unusual even if it is marginally hardy for z6b). When I ask him about LH he said that even his best grower on Long Island can't produce decent looking (read saleable) plants for two years. Rate of mortality in a first year in nursery conditions is over 30%, in ground almost twice as much. So far nobody knows why it is thriving on West Coast while being a problem on East one. Reminds me of a polemonium 'Brise'd Anjou' story.

Yes it was Sunshine Nursery in Clinton. I actually drove there twice to obtain the items mentioned in my earlier posting. The first trip I had intended to purchase one large smoke tree that had been dug and put in a 20 gallon pot that was sunk in the ground. When looking at the ones they had, the owner told me that they had not started to bloom yet because they were still adjusting to being dug out of the field. That made me uneasy about transporting, all the way back home, one of those large trees in the back of my pick-up. They did not have any 10 gallon pot size American Smoke trees that would have easily fit in the back seat area of my pick-up, but they did have one 3 gallon pot size 14 inch tall grafted smoke tree left for sale. Sadly, that is the one I purchased. Huge difference from the originally intended purchase. But at least that little tree survived the transport, and is adjusting nicely to its new location. The following week my daughter indicated she wanted some Dwarf Palmetto Palms, so another excursion to Clinton was called for. That second trip revealed that all of their 20 gallon smoke trees had been sold to the city of OKC. So when I purchased 8 DPP they also agreed to sell me two of their smoke tree liners. Those two tree saplings were almost as tall as the first tree they sold me, but their trunks were much smaller. Now, both of them are doing fine in one gallon pots, but need to be staked very soon. I am greatful to get them even if they are so small. Locally, the only smoke trees nursery suppliers will provide, is the European smoke tree varieties or the 'Grace' cultivar that is a mix of European with American Smoke. That one blooms gray smoke, which I do not prefer. The other European smokes, locally sold, seem boring with their solid purple leaves and very short flowering events. It would be nice if my trees bloom purple, but the owner said that the first grafted tree I bought from them will bloom white. It is yet to be seen what color of bloom the last two saplings I purchased will bloom. Hopefully those blooms do not turn out to be gray. This week my Japanese Stewartia still has more new leaves that have not browned yet. The original leaves that browned from sun shock have easily fallen off when I slightly tugged on them. The tree is getting deeply watered regularly, and it really helped a few days ago when a cold front came through dropping a half inch of rain, lots of clouds, and even when the sun came back out lowering the temperatures back into the 80s. Hopefully the tree will successfull acclimate and survive over the next 6 weeks heat back up until the fall rains and lower temps will once again help the tree to finish adjusting.