Oh no! I visited your post last night and thought about the Sri Lanka Beetle that has caused significant leaf damage on some of my ornamentals, but I don't have a Loquat or a HKO. Our county extension agent recommended Sevin but said to change pesticides on your next attack because Sri Lanka Beetles quickly grow immune to whatever you spray on them. I called a lawn service to spray because there was no way I could get to the tops of Tibouchinas or Powder Puff. A week later, I'm spotting those critters down low, like on african iris. This year I've squished hundreds of them. Oh, and they're mating now. Thanks for posting the link, Oldflorida. Good luck with your Orchid Tree and Loquat. You stated before that you have a pesticide free yard: that is really great, so I know this has to be heart wrenching for you. Good luck.

dsstroud, unfortunately, they are a deciduous tree and very messy. They will also get HUGE if you let them. You can't change the nature of the tree, so either change your attitude or chop it down. Not being smart, just that's your only choice. That reminds me of a story of when I was working at a garden center. A woman called and said that the tree we had sold her was dead. My boss went out and it was indeed leafless, but then, all Jacarandas are leafless in the winter. He tried to explain to her that it was deciduous and would come back out and bloom in the spring, but she was all upset and made him dig it up, so he brought it back, cleaned up the roots, stuck it into another pot, and resold it. Then there was the woman who walked in and said she wanted a bush that bloomed all year, only got 4 feet tall and never had to be pruned. I told her the silk flower and plant store was about 3 miles down the road. She didn't like things that grew out of control, and said very haughtily that she refused to prune anything. I told her that this is Florida, everything grows out of control here, and she needed to just buy what she liked and hire a gardener.

As a landscape professional and an ISA Certified Arborist I will provide my best guess and provide some feedback. We have these trees here in Hawaii and I see the yellowing out "Bleaching" often. A lot of that has to do with nutrients. It very well could be the natural cycle of leaf drop and new emergence of juvenile leaves, however... We as homeowners tend to just plant the trees and give it some water and kind of let the trees go on their own. We expect the trees to give us pretty flowers, fruit, and shade and we typically don't give back. All living things have nutrient requirements and for us we eat food to get those nutrients. Trees however have to get that food supply from the soil, once those nutrients are depleted in the soil or are not available at all because of soil conditions, that's it! The tree now depends on reserve energy and stored nutrients. As new leaves emerge they have a higher photosynthetic requirement therefore the older leaves give up their stored nutrients to feed the younger leaves, thus yellowing out and dropping early. All trees deserve at least 1 deep root feeding annually to replenish depleted nutrients. You may find the the older leaves stick around longer and drop throughout the year as opposed to one big drop. Food for Thought! Thanks for reading my rant. Hope this helps! Hit me up at jay@alohaarborcare.com with questions or comments.

Speaking of climate - as in Sunset - Zone 21 I see the 2012 version of the Western Garden Book (Time Home Entertainment, New York) says the best flowering from Bauhinia comes from those located out of wind and on soils that are "semi-fertile". So if your planting site is out in the open and you are fertilizing your roses frequently or otherwise trying to give them a fertile soil (full exposure to sun and rich soil being two things typically provided for hybrid roses by enthusiasts) these factors may have some effect on how your new tree behaves.