Yes, they are generally short-lived as "e m" says. The blue one (Lobelia siphilitica) may be slightly longer lived than L.cardinalis, the red one. If you don't have to have a native plant, some of the hybrids such as Lobelia Compliment Deep Red are longer lived. The colour is somewhat different, being more of a burgundy red. I am in a similar zone to you, so I don't think it is a case of not being winter-hardy. L.cardinalis generally lives a year or two for me and may or may not set some seed.

Hi Tony, I planted out my first grouping of A physocarpa seedlings this morning. They were seedlings I started last September and were the largest. I pinched the top out of the tallest seedling, just to gage how much difference it makes in the growth and bushiness. My A variegata is already showing flower buds. They bloom way too early. I'd planned to pinch them back but there is only one full set of leaves below the tiny leaves surrounding the little flower buds. I'm afraid to pinch it for fear I'll damage the stalk and not get another flush of growth. I'm such a chicken! These MW are so delicate in some ways, yet tough to survive in their native habitat. Every year I hope for a seed pod and every year I'm disappointed. Still grateful to have them alive so shouldn't complain too loudly regarding the lack of seed pods. I transplanted some stick verbena (that already has a few little blooms opening) near them, hoping to draw in some little pollinators. We are expecting yet another cool front here too. Damp and possibility of thunderstorms through the weekend. Maybe this will be the last of the cool weather, although I have to admit, the plants don't seem to be suffering from the cool weather. Certainly a good time to get some transplanting done. Looking forward to hearing how your little Oscar seedlings do. Mary

itzy, both annual dianthus and annual snaps are so- so perennials here- coming back for me as many as 4 years running. You lose about 1/3 to half the plants each year. A lot of so called cool weather annuals are like that, but some peter out in the summer. The annual mealy cup sage does the same (victoria, blue bedder)- comes back 3 or 4 yrs. Dottie, i've had the red callibrochia come back, but 1 winter for me. Never was brave enough to try any but hardy begonias and i don't grow the regular geraniums to try. Bachelor buttons love the winter- it's the summer they don't normally survive. In fact, i seed them in the fall along with nigella, larkspur and poppies. I've seen john's miracle bed and it was amazing what he could nurse through. Couple things i've had survive that weren't supposed to be hardy are stevia and lemon verbena. I've heard of others who have had both survive, too.

I don't see how this one could be Roman, unless somehow there were both Roman and German in the same packet, and the seedlings looked 100% identical up until the time they were transplanted to the garden. The other plant(s) from the same batch got tall and produced a zillion flowers, and then the plant died. This particular plant just never grew past the point of a tiny seedling. It also doesn't look like a short plant  it looks stunted. It's definitely true that I let the seedlings sit too long in tiny seed-starting containers, and they were fairly root-bound when I transplanted them. However, the others from the same seed batch took off as soon as they got in the garden, while this one stayed tiny...and yet, it never just gave up and died. It never bloomed, or even looked like it was thinking about blooming. I've seen a low-growing perennial chamomile in our area, usually mixed in with the grass in the park, or that sort of thing. This isn't it. The seed packet says all of the following: "Chamomile, German" and "Matricaria Recutita," and "annual, cool-season crop." The seeds are from Botanical Interests, whom I tend to trust (do they deserve that trust?). I was just now considering the possibility that what I'm seeing is not last year's plant, but a new plant from re-seeding of the sibling plant. However, I really don't think so, for the following reasons: It's in precisely the same place as last year's stunted plant, it looks exactly the same, it has the same "tiny clump of too-many plants" look to it, there are no others (I would expect dozens from re-seeding, not one), and also, the cold weather just broke so recently that I don't think anything has germinated yet. Some of the perennials have greened up or sent up new shoots, but I haven't seen any new seedlings anywhere. I do know that some plants die shortly after they go to seed, which is why I'm wondering if German chamomile is "annual" in the "dies after blooming" sense and not the "can't handle the cold" sense. So, since this plant hasn't bloomed yet, it also hasn't died yet. But still...strange.