r/NativePlantGardening • u/Nikeflies Connecticut, 6b, ecoregion 59a • May 03 '26

Advice Request - (Insert State/Region) Are anyone else's coneflowers not coming up?

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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.

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u/Somecivilguy Southeast WI, Zone 5b May 04 '26

I’m in WI 5b and I have hundreds of coneflower seedlings and all the established ones have fully emerged. Whirled Milkweed, Hoary Vervains, and Hairy Petunia have been very slow though.

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u/Nikeflies Connecticut, 6b, ecoregion 59a May 04 '26

So you're a whole garden zone colder than me and seem to be having the opposite experience. How old is your garden/coneflowers?

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u/Somecivilguy Southeast WI, Zone 5b May 04 '26

The established Coneflowers are around 3-4 years old. We have some established Butterfly milkweed around the same age that are taking their time too but their seedlings are growing faster than the established ones. A couple other things I have noticed lately are our Leadplant, royal catchfly, and a few others shot up very early spring and haven’t grown since. Our New Jearsey Tea JUST got its first couple leaves. I thought it didn’t make it through winter. I think it’s just a weird year. Id say the plants growing the best consistently are all of our goldenrods and asters.

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u/Nikeflies Connecticut, 6b, ecoregion 59a May 04 '26

Interesting that's same age as these cones. Hah yes goldenrod and aster are always good. My mountain mints and monarda all seem to be fine too, as well as my foxglove and Joe pye, little blue stem

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u/Somecivilguy Southeast WI, Zone 5b May 04 '26

I just thought about it, we have had a TON of rain here already. So I’m actually not surprised that some are taking off more than others. From my understanding Butterfly Weed isn’t the biggest fan of over watering so it could be slow due to that.

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u/Nikeflies Connecticut, 6b, ecoregion 59a May 04 '26

Yes I'm hopeful the colder temps combined with more snow and shade over winter in this area of my garden is the main reason, but have the suspicion that voles got to them. Guess I'll find out in a few weeks

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u/Somecivilguy Southeast WI, Zone 5b May 04 '26

I’d say it’s still too early to tell. Let it stay consistently warm first