Any experience with Kentucky Coffee Tree?

Peabody wrote in news:G4LGe.2811$MZ6.123@lakeread01:

Here's my info dump from my notes. These are gleaned from personal observations, Michael Dirr, and George Washington Univerisity's Woody Plants classes:

Gymnocladus dioicus, Kentucky Coffeetree Zones: 3b - 8 Fabaceae N.Y. - NB - TN ---central U.S.

Leaves: Alternate, bipinnately compound, huge - to 36" long and 24" wide, with 3 - 7 pairs of pinnae (the primary rib or division attached to the rachis - feather-like), the lower few reduced to simple leaflets. Individual leaflets are elliptic, entire, 1-1/2 - 3" long acute or pointed at apex, dark bluish-green, and pubescent beneath. Kentucky Coffeetrees leaf out very late usually not until the 1st or 2nd week of May, usually no fall color but occasionally yellow.

Habit: 60 - 75'+ high by 40 - 50' wide. Very coarse textured, picturesque tree with stiffly ascending branches and a narrow obovate crown. The tree has large, irregularly crooked branches with an open form and short, stubby twigs, especially noticeable in winter. This is one of those trees you either love or hate due to its gawky, coarse, but striking habit especially in winter! There is variability in structure with no two exactly alike. Bark: Rough, with hard thin scaly ridges curling outward along edges. Gray- brown and very distinctive.

Flowers: Dioecious or poly-gamo-dioecious, greenish white, 4 - 5 petals, the flowers ¾ - 1" long in May-June. Borne together in 8 - 12" long pyramidal panicles on female trees, supposedly very fragrant - 'smelling like a rose". Males have smaller (3 - 4" long) panicles. Not very showy or remarkable.

Fruit: reddish brown - black leathery pods, 5 - 10" long, with a hard shell ripening in October and persisting thru winter. Fruits heavily every 2nd or 3rd year. Quite messy-looking and some would say UGLY.

Culture: Prefers deep, rich, moist soils in full sun; but is quite adaptable to high pH, urban and polluted sites, and varied soils. Wood may be brittle.

D&I: None serious

Uses: A choice tree for golf courses, parks, and large areas. This tree is sometimes considered a 'dirty' tree due to the large, messy pods that create litter problems as well as large leaflets and rachis that fall at different times. Always draws attention and curiousity.

I especially like to use this tree when it can be backlit, or when views through the foliage are backlit, as the interplay of light and shadow, as well as the light through the leaf itself, is very nice.