Carolina Gardening: Chinaberry tree, not kidding, 1 by donnacreation

donnacreation wrote:
My stepfather is from upstate NY, and when he moved down here 35 years ago, he fell in love with the lowly regarded Chinaberry tree. He has a nice tree growing in his backyard that really is pretty. Part of my property is a flood plain, where I'm growing young live oaks, magnolias, crepe myrtles, and lots of zone 8a palms (among other things). I would love a quick growing short lived tree (oh yeah, I'm going there!) to fill in and provide shade for 10-15 yrs, or until the live oaks' canopies become big enough to create shade. I want a few nonfruiting Chinaberry trees. His tree doesn't produce the smelly seed/fruit that I've always associated with Chinaberries, and it's 15 yrs old. Does this mean he has a male tree? I always thought all Chinaberry trees produce fruit. I remember some folks called them "umbrella trees", but I always thought it was just another common name for the Chinaberry tree. I just don't want to plant something that's going to grow up and produce those awful fruits.