I love silk floss trees and have a nice 7 footer in my garden from seed I started two years ago from a friend's tree in Los Angeles. Very very easy to grow and keep happy. I started mine from a big seed pod I brought back for decoration which eventually split open. I harvested and planted the seeds and voila, a nice batch of seedlings and now a very respectable young tree. I give it a good soak twice a week when it has leaves and then water once a month or so when it doesn't. Here is a pic of the spines on mine from early this summer (link below in case embedded pic doesn't work).

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I always notice how many there are around town when they're in bloom--there are more of them than we think, and I think they're really fun. There is a grafted spinelss variety but I don't think it's as fun as the spiny ones. They can be a bit messy (leaves, flowers, fruit) but I don't mind a bit of garden maintenance and I find the mess easy to clean up compared to, say, a sweet acacia.

Let us know if you get some and how they work out for you. Good choice!

Take care,
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: Grant's Chorisia/Ceiba spines

They are very pretty but the thorns are scary especially if you have kids stay away from those and the rosarybead vine

hey grant how is your silk floss tree doing now?

I have one that I got this spring that's 10ft tall and not doing well. I might have over watered it. It doesn't have any leaves and the trunk is yellowing :(

Hiya! Mine got out of control so last winter I dug it up and gave it to a friend. It's doing great in her garden though. No leaves and yellow trunk sounds bad. Sorry! :(