Crinodendrom keeps dropping buds

welcome to goy.
I suspect it gets too wet/cold in the winter. but I cant grow it where i am. some one will be able to help i am sure.

Hi Pentre and welcome to GoY our Crinodendron lost al its buds and most of its leaves when we had a frost that lasted for over a month in the area of the garden it is in. It looked so awful we were going to cut it back but a friend said 'wait and see' thankfully we did and it is fine now and in flower. I think SBG is right your Crinodendron is getting too wet and so is struggling.

Is it in an east facing position, that is, does it get early morning sun? And does it grow with a fence or wall behind it, or out in the open?

Crinodrendrom faces south eastish, sheltered by fence behind. Gets morning sun.

veryone is right, they dislike being dry or wet, they hate exposure esp to drying winds or early sunshine after being frosted but the good news is they get better with age. my main plant is now ten years old from seed and it is 8ft tall and 4 wide, the last 2-3 years it has retained the vast majority of flw buds. we get minus 10 and even as low as -18. it just gets leaf tips burned, persevere. even throwing over some fleece on the coldest nights as you would with camelias and pieris if they were getting scorched.

I suspect the problem is likely to be that the morning sun hits the flower buds when they're still frosty - that would cause them to fail. As everyone says, they like a shady spot, sheltered, and you've got it against a fence, everything's right for it - any chance you could shelter it from the early morning sun in the winter, see if that makes a difference?