Hi,
I've got one that was 'gifted' to me by a critter of some kind...Bird, or squirrel, I don't know. Just found it coming up one year in a bed, I put it in a pot, and babied it along for about 3 or 4 years. Finally I found a spot in the yard for it. For the first couple of years that it was in the ground, it was very late to lose all it's leaves. In fact we had a couple of freezes before it dropped it's leaves, and I thought it was a goner. It also broke dormancy late, and did not bloom at all. Until this year! It had maybe a dozen little flowers, and is maybe more than 12 feet tall. Currently looking very lush, and I'm hoping that next year it will be full of blooms.
I'm not sure about the differences, if any, between the 'eastern', or 'western', but I am beginning to believe that the age of the tree is what is really at play here.
This is mine as 1st planted in 2011...
And this is from my front porch today...
