Thank you Alison, I have now googled the Cape Chestnut and I believe you are right. What a splendid tree it is.

When the flowers open it will be easy to tell for sure. Otherwise it looks quite like 'Montic' to me. Also this plant is one likely to be encountered at garden centers near the Pacific. I've seen some quite nice ones in shopping center landscaping in Orange County, a situation where I doubt anyone was spraying them.

Even the last shot is really too far away - and too dark. Otherwise it is starting to look like it might be a crabapple. Based on how the individual flowers appear to be. Except the high number and density of flowers on a still basically leafless tree is more like a Japanese cherry. Need to get close enough with the camera that details of the flowers can be seen at this end.

I actually have the same plant in purple but I did not realize that they are same plants. Thank you very much!