the seed are called gumballs ... and when the tree ages enough.. to start dropping them.. you will not be able to walk barefoot in your yard ... glorious PARK trees.. you better think long and hard about whether your yard is big enough ... also.. known for surface roots ... and suckers.. if you cut a root ... now.. if you just gotta have one.. check out the link ... who cares about all the other problems.. lol apparently i am a bit bipolar on my opinion of these trees.. lol ... oh.. and i forgot to mention.. the heavenly.. aroma of a crushed leaf. but it is very ephemeral.. lasting only seconds ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: pay real money for a variegated one ...

Check out Robinsonella cordata, with gorgeous blue hibiscus-like flowers. I just picked one up at the UC Berkeley Botanic Garden fall sale, and am anticipating the first time I get to see it bloom. I am also enjoying the fall blooms on my Cunnonia capensis tree in my front garden, but this is another rarer tree species that takes some searching to find. The Chinese Fringe tree is also quite nice or how about Cornus capitata?.

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK: In theory I like the idea of trees that live 200 years or more. Also, I'm not sure longevity and slow growth are perfectly correlated. maackia: I am planting hawthorn and craapples. The problem with the genus rosacea is there are A LOT of cedar in the area, so rust is a potential problem. Not to mention Japanese beetles. ken_adrian: No one thinks of a "legacy shrub", but I suppose a multi-trunked shrub that suckers can live longer then a tree. The creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) can live at least ten thousand years. Not aware of any equivalent shrub that has conspicuous flowrers, and you couldn't necessarily tell it was ancient by looking at it...but if anyone can think of one, tell me. brandon7 TN_zone(7) I was actually thinking of Ostrya virginiana for other reasons. (wind resistance). Considered sourwood, but it would probably need coddling on the sites I'm considering. Haven't heard of most of the others.

The second tree is sweetgum, not sure about the first. Sweetgum had spikey seed balls that some folks don't like. They breed/grow seedless varieties I think for landscape purposes. Sweetgum is stunning in the fall, but maybe not so much in CA.