This has happened to mine in the past, if it really outdid itself in the bloom department the previous year, the next year it either doesn't flower or has only a few.

Annette

And, I think you can't rule out the weather as a factor this year.... No flowers on our Chinese wisteria this spring and a lot of dead wood at the ends of the branches :-( The jury is still out on whether our Japanese wisteria will bloom this spring - it's just starting to come to life now. Is there any obvious die-back on your laburnum?

No, woody, none at all. It looks very healthy as it has every year... just no blooms! I wonder if this just isn't the climate for it and last year was the exception. A lot of different things happened in my garden last year.

Um, AfterMidnight has hit the nail on the head, I think. Last year was a storming year for fruit of all kinds.....but this year, combined with a weird winter lacking in winter chill, we are seeing apples with hugely reduced fruit set, cherries which will drop the stunted crop over the next week or so, and redcurrants with no fruit at all. This is called biennial bearing....and often happens as trees and shrubs get older (although some varieties such as Cox pippin apples, have an innate tendency to have good years and bad years). Legumes, like laburnum and brooms are very much affected by this trait so don't fret, the tree looks perfectly healthy, this is just a natural hiatus.

Thanks! Oh well, with something so pretty it's worth waiting for. Once every six years - so be it :)