Bauhinia x blakeana is a tree without a wild population. A sterile hybrid that produces no seed pods, it exists entirely through the intervention of gardeners and botanical institutions — propagated by cuttings, layering, or grafting, every tree alive today connected by vegetative lineage to the original specimens raised at the Hong Kong Botanical Gardens in the early twentieth century. Its hybrid name honors Sir Henry Blake, Governor of Hong Kong from 1898 to 1903, and his wife Lady Edith Blake, who shared his enthusiasm for plants. The genus name acknowledges the 16th-century Swiss twin botanists Johann and Gaspard Bauhin — the bi-lobed leaves echo that twinned symmetry.

In zones 9 to 11, it grows into a multi-trunked semi-evergreen tree 12 to 20 feet tall with an umbrella-like canopy and an irregular crown. The flowers, appearing in autumn, are extraordinary: 5 to 6 inches across, in shades from deep rose to pink, shaped genuinely like orchid blooms. Because it produces no seed pods, it requires none of the cleanup that others in the genus demand. Established trees tolerate drought but suffer in hard frost; foliage is damaged below freezing and the tree rarely survives temperatures below 26 degrees Fahrenheit. Site it with protection from cold winds, prune it while young to develop a strong crown structure, and in the right climate it rewards with one of the most spectacular flowering seasons available in a garden tree.