It should have pink blooms before flowering, but not always. It tends to be the older part of the tree that sometimes fail to flower and go straight to leaf.

Out if interest when did the buds break on yours? Mine looks like a week away from blooming. When I was in the US at the start of April they were all flowering and looking great.

Thanks Kildermorie. I noticed the leaves about four or five days ago - many of the hundreds of seed pods were still hanging on, so we started pulling them all off in case they were hindering things - literally hundreds, that hadn't fallen naturally!

Mine is only just starting to show pink as well

And are the leaves out already, Andrew, or not yet?

No sign of any leaves yet Sheila

Thanks. I think mine must be having a rest this year, after producing over 100 seed pods. :))