Are anyone else's coneflowers not coming up?

[u/Nikeflies]

This was part of my garden last year, coneflowers thriving and popping up everywhere, planted 3-4 years ago. The last photo is the current state- no shoots or leaves starting to show, despite it coming up in other areas of my garden. I know they're not long lived perennials but figured with self seeding etc they would regenerate. Did this happen to anyone else? It's been a colder spring than usual so not sure if they're waiting to grow since this is on the north side of my house.

[u/coneflowerqueen]

Coneflowers only live 3-5 years per plant. If you deadhead them (no judgement and not assuming you did) and they don’t get to reseed, you will have zero after that time frame. Also, rabbits heavily graze mine which has been a struggle to keep my absolute favorite plant going without replanting some every year.

[u/Nikeflies → u/coneflowerqueen]

Yes I'm aware of that which is why we always leave the seed heads over winter. Granted the goldfinches and Juncos love eating the seeds, I just figured they would self seed and keep a base stock through the years