My mom has them and she has it come back year after year. She has planted near a large rock that is in her garden so I think that helps some, since it is a marginal plant (zone 5?)

Linda,
I have coreopsis 'Moonbeam' and 'Zagreb'. They are very slow to come back. Just when you think you lost 'em, they show up.

It's a bit early to be dead certain about any of these, though of course it's clear that some were damaged by the winter (Lobelia cardinalis will overwinter with green foliage rosettes under normal circumstances - though perhaps yours is really a hybrid, and therefore not as hardy? I likely lost my hybrids this year, while the true cardinalis plants survived unscathed). The clethras are frequently late to bud out here, especially when they have dieback, but rarely if ever are completely killed by winter cold.

I tried Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise' many times in the past with no wintering success. Geum 'Mrs Bradshaw' has wintered over in the past, but eventually died out. (I haven't gotten it again, though it is commonly sold here). A very small Clethra alnifolia has wintered over twice now in a sheltered spot with minimal winterkill last year; too early to tell the results this year, though the branches seem supple; unfortunately, frost hit before it got to bloom last year.
No luck, ever with Lobelia cardinalis...a long story involving multiple trials with what I later realized were tender hybrids, ending in failure even with the species.

Sally, Seems the tickseed type coreopsis do well here. I have coreopsis "American Dream" and I had given up on it last year when it surprised me and popped up in late May, I believe. This year it is already up and greening nicely! Strange....

The Clethra was DEAD, branches snapped off and had no bend to them at all. I pulled it and tossed.

I give up on Lobelia Cardinalis, doesn't sound like anyone in this area has any luck with them, even tho the tag says hardy to zone 4. Too bad, too, as I really like them!

Linda

HAPPY SPRING !!!!! Isn't this weather something !!! I can hardly stay in the house long enough to make the bed! Anyway, I can't get "Mrs. Bradshaw" to winter over either. Just wanted to sneak in my two cents worth !

Make the bed? Save time and just shut the bedroom door! It was a fantastic day! The earliest blooming wildflower, Bloodroot, is blooming away in the woods hereabouts. My perennial beds get abandoned for hours on a day like this. Must trek through the woodlands in hopes of spying a new spring wild flower.

Complete failure, many times, with Lobelia cardinalis (species). Beats me how that is supposedly native to zone 2 and so impossible to grow. It must need exact and specific conditions.
Jan

cardinal flowers take FOREVER to come up... don't fret yet! :)
Really, it's only mid April :)

-Marie

True Lobelia cardinalis does extremely well for me - I suppose it could be a microclimate issue, though. Mine have evergreen rosettes; my experience with hybrid lobelias has often been that if the rosette dies, so does the plant. Occasionally they do return even if the rosette has been burned away by cold. Once I even had a 'Victoria' type hybrid make it through a winter and it had to sprout from below ground; that plant is practically never hardy, though, and indeed it died the next winter. If anyone is familiar with it, it's the type that characteristically has deep reddish to purple foliage; it has a strong dose of a Mexican species in its background, which accounts for its lack of hardiness here.

My cardinal flower is already showing new growth.

okay, so how do I know if my Lobelia Cardinalis are hybrid or not? If they come up, they aren't and if they don't come up they are? LOL

How about some of the others, I have seen a nice one called "Ruby Slippers". Anyone know about that one?

Linda

Cardinal flower tends to rot if the winter mulch is not removed in time. Sometimes it can't push its way through regular mulch. I just noticed that mine (which is violet) is coming up, as is the lobelia syphilitica. Once the rosettes are up and healthy, you can divide them for more.

I've had "Ruby Slippers" I don't know yet if it is going to be back yet. I've had Mrs. Bradshaw for several years in a raised bed. I'm not sure that I've seen it come back yet, I'll have to check - but I did have it for 3 or 4 winters. I think the new red one - don't remember the name, of course, is supposed to be more hardy.

Lynn