A friend of mine (in zone 5) pulled her golden chain tree out because of the very same thing. I think they're just messy trees.

I bought mine at Walmart in 2003 and it never flowered and this spring it totally freaked out. Now it's just a stick with some funky white fungus thing up and down it's trunk. I need to tear it out of ground now but scarlet runner bean vines are using it as their pole.

Most of the leaves are dead or have fallen off but now there are new ones growing. It has flowered for years but seems to drop it's leaves really early, especially this year. Maybe it was due to our lack of rain. Thanks for your responses.

We are at the lower end of the hardiness * range for Laburnum, and it doesn't do well with our heat. It grows better up north. I have one, it looses it's leaves every summer, then grows more, before going into dormancy, finally, in late fall. It does not matter how much water it gets.

Here is a link that might be useful: * zones 5b thru 7