Franklinia alatamaha in California?

I've been looking for a small tree for my front yard, Sunset Zone 17, and found Franklinia alatamaha in the Sunset Western Garden Book. On-line research confirmed that this is a beautiful small deciduous tree, so I ordered one. But I haven't found any evidence that anyone has grown it in CA (successfully or otherwise). Does anyone have experience with it here?

I haven't grown it, but if the SWG book says it'll grow in zone 17 then I think you can feel pretty comfortable that it'll be OK--the Sunset zones take into account all sorts of different climate variables so they're pretty accurate. I don't think I've ever found something that they said would grow in my zone that didn't.

Liz, speaking of Sunset - is there any way to determine one's zone other than clicking on their stupid shaded map, which I find totally useless? I'm right between coastal and desert conditions, so a slip of the cursor makes a big difference. Why don't they have a zip code finder - or do they and I'm just not finding it?

Kathleen

I don't think I've ever seen a zip code search tool but it's been a long time since I looked at their map online. I've always found the maps in the book are more useful for figuring out exactly what zone you're in. At least for this area, they've got pretty good close-up maps in the book.

Thanks, Liz. Didn't mean to hijack, jills. Hope your tree works. :-)