Don't know where you garden but other than Cheyene Spirit, none of the fancy hybrids have ever returned for me, not even pow wow white. So my patch consists of 3-4 of the more common pink hybrids. In S TX, they have been blooming for 1 month already. You may have to replant

A great deal of their ability to perennialize is associated with soil conditions as well. IME, any soil that holds a lot of moisture through winter (even very well drained soils) discourage their return regardless of how mild a climate. A number of highly hybridized plants - like these - also tend to be rather short-lived under the best of conditions. As Camp notes, if you can provide them with a growing situation most like they originated from you increase their chances for survivability but I still would not consider these hybrids long term garden subjects :-) I grew Echinacea purpurea for a number of years in my old garden but never had much luck with any of the newer, highly colored or doubled hybrids.

I've had Hot Papaya several years, a couple of years it was very late & I thought it was a goner. How late that was, I dont remember, but I feel it was later than this. Don't know where you are though.

Sorry to say, you should have seen new growth in zone 7b long before now.

This story reinforces what I have seen/experienced regarding poor durability of the pricey new vari-colored hybrids. Meantime, my seed-grown E. purpurea hybrids and "Cheyenne Spirit" keep rolling along.

Sorry they most likely didn't make it. Do you remember if they had much basal growth and With a lot of leaves at the crown.... Or did they have a single strong stems with a ton of blooms?

You do touch on quite an essential issue there, Nevermore - one which has resonance for strawberry growers or those of us who foolishly persist in growing meconopsis...and that is the lack of balance (and hormonal and metabolic activity) between root, leaf and bloom. It has always been my practice to sacrifice blooms for a year in order to build up enough root mass able to push enough foliage to feed.photosynthesise a plant to build up reserves over the winter and to maintain sufficient internal resources to carry a plant through the draining period of blooming...and I rather suspect that the hybrid echies are of that ilk. Campanula Kent Belle is another...which can, quite literally, bloom itself to death. Asters too.Not to say NO blooms at all - but for hybrid growers, it might be in order to leave just one bloom on each plant while disbudding any arising stems later in the season...with the promise of a payoff in later years.

I used to do this with small own root roses too - the first season after being raised as a cutting, I would only allow one speculative bud to form and disbudd the rest.

eta - not totally sure 'disbudd' is a word, especially with 2 ds.

UPDATE: They definitely had multi-stems. I cannot recall if they had a good root structure when I planed them. I do usually fertilize with a root stimulator. Maybe it was too hard blooming and then regrowing and blooming before winter hit. They are in raised beds with good soil. I've never noticed it become like, water logged or anything. I've never had a problem growing anything and really don't lose things over the winter. BTW, the truth is that I purchased these at Home Depot on a whim because I was excited to get planting and they were there, so there could have been a quality issue. Oh well. Guess I need I new plan.

To confirm, you would want multiple stems coming from the crown. I have seen Manu echs that branched out from single stems very low to the ground. Besides that, you should be able to excavate one now and see how it was doing with roots and crown stems... Post a pic if you can. With raised beds .. Over winter water shouldn't be an issue. The three "rules" that I follow for purchasing my echs are 1- good basal growth. 2- don't let quart sized plants bloom at all the first year. 3- don't purchase late in the year

so maybe it's a later season purchase that did yours in... Which stinks... But I do really well with echs... And I don't get late season plants through the first winter all the time either .

I'm is 6B. These are the remaining 8 Hot Papaya today

Echinacea · More Info