It has never come back for me. Even when I had a nice micro climate in Dallas --even protected.
Up here in N Texas we keep it in pots and drag it in and out or purchase new each year. I love them.

Now, in a mild winter, it might survive in a south facing spot with lots of protection and mulch, but hasn't for anyone I know in my area.

There is a house down the street that had it in a slightly raised bed facing s-s/w. I'll try to take a walk down there and see if it survived or not. I've been wondering if it did cuz if yes I'll try it myself.

Yours could still be sleeping. I say wait and watch.

Just went to take a look. Hers is planted where it gets s/sw exposure.. Its completely protected by brick wall all around except for that exposure. She said it comes back for her every year.

She's learning that she can't grow anything else in that bed with it. Its crowding everything else out.

its sold as an annual up here ..

mel ... get a piece of your friends..

i presume.. like most other plants.. that there are different kinds ... and if you got a proper ID .. you might find out why the friends thrives ... other than simply.. the perfect location ...

ken

There is more than one plant sold as plumbago. One is much cold hardier than the other which are you talking about? Ceratostigma or Plumbago?

Both have true blue flowers.

I have the hardy one here (Ceratostigma) and it is not leafed out yet, it is always late.

Mine is just now starting to show life here in central Ohio.

Here in Lynchburg, I have mine planted in my garden on the North/West side of the property. Planted it in Fall 2010, and have never cut it back before Winter, and made sure it had good drainage, plus get it covered with shredded leaves around November. It was a 3" pot to start and now covers ~18" of ground and flowers like mad. Just gorgeous and I love the early reddish foliage.

It just started to leaf out last week, so hang in there--last Spring it didn't emerge until the 3rd week in April, but then again, we had no Winter this year to keep it dormant.

I didn't know there was more than 1 kind. If it comes back up, I'll figure out which one it is. If not, I'll just refer to it as "the dead one." Thanks for the replies!

See link below to yesterday's pics of plumbago starting to bloom at our local museum (quick pics with my camera phone). My climate is too different from yours to be of help, but 2 questions came to mind.

1) Timing. Maybe plumbago is one of those plants like lantana that need to be trimmed in the spring after it has started to leaf out and has some nice new growth? With lantana, for example, if you cut it back for winter, water gets in the woody stem and kills the plant.

2) Variety. Besides the question that others ask, maybe you have a modern day hybrid that is not as tough as the old-fashioned ones? If yours dies, maybe you could find it at a nursery that could tell you if the variety they are selling is truly hardy in your area vs a tag with a sales pitch and when it should be trimmed. Plumbago in the photos needs trimming but too late to do it now.

In checking online I see one that is hardy but is a groundcover. I have never seen it here. Groundcover or upright habit is something else you might want to verify. Good luck! Click "Next" through 4 photos.

Here is a link that might be useful: 4/3/12 plumbago starting to bloom at the museum in 4 large planters

Plumbago is very late to wake up...don't give up yet.

Plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides) aka leadwort returns without fail for me every year. It is a late riser, though.

Purpleinopp, the one linked by River Crossroads is the true Plumbago and is a lot less hardy then Ceratostigma. I remember it being evergreen in Phoenix but it may behave differently in other climates.

Thanks for the replies!

And I didn't know that about Lantana. Out of laziness, I never trim them till spring. I love it when the lazy way is the right way!

Question: did your plumbago come back?

--- I'm searching about plumbago because I impulsively bought one that I don't have a space for and it's in a pot. I want to get it in the ground before winter so it will [hopefully] come back next year. I'm just not sure where I want to put it yet. I think it may be time to get rid of all the sad looking zinnias in my south bed and do some amending & mulching so I can plant it with pansies & snapdragons in fall (and maybe a plumbago).

Hi! No, I'm sorry to say this plant is definitely dead. I see it all over town though so it must not have been happy where I put it but I don't know why. And I wouldn't know one Plumbago from another, sorry. We had awful drought last year, so tap water could be a factor. I trimmed it to about 2" stumps when the foliage died, at what seemed like a normal time to do so. What did survive in the immediate area was roses, Tradescantia pallida, stargazer lilies, Caladium (sound weird in this group but it's shaded by a rose,) and Dianthus, so draw whatever conclusions from that which you can, I'm flummoxed. I can tell you if it doesn't appreciate a heavy cover of oak leaves with a little grass, that's a contender. It could have been stepped on by our great Dane, probably it was something so mundane. I didn't see any more to buy this year or I would have absolutely tried again. Good luck with your decision, a very worthwhile effort for this plant, IMO.

Ah, sorry about the plant.

I went out to scout in my zinnia bed and I can't bear to bring myself to cut out the plants that have new growth. Maybe I'll try to amend around them. If it kills them, it kills them but at least they have more of a chance than with me & my snips.

I have read conflicting information on full vs. part sun. The zinnias are in full sun for the entire day and I'm afraid it may be too much. The other options are a morning sun only bed (but I can't see it without going around the house) and the other has sun from about 12:30pm through sunset, but it's fairly full of dianthus & lilies. I could move some dianthus, I guess.

I have a huge plumbago. I fertilize but it doesn't have very many blooms at least for it's size. I am in zone 9 If I prune it now will it bloom again and how severely can I prune it?