I just did some checking and it looks like it's not hardy here.

Melissa, I hope you'll follow up on your success (hopefully) with persicaria. I was quite taken with a planting of them out in Rhode Island last year and found a few at local garden centers (Linders, e.g.). I just returned from RI this week with a nice pot of persicaria 'firetail' which is beautiful. I'll be trying it this year. My sense is that, while they spread some, they're not particularly invasive. Gary

I did purchase mine at Linders last year. I'm going to have to hunt down the tag to make sure it's a zone 4. But I have a feeling I'll be taking it back to Linders in the coming weeks. Just about every other perennial I have does have some green on it, but this one does not. Even the Hakonechloa grass, which is considered marginally hardy, is showing signs of life. And it's only about 8-10 feet away.

It's not looking good.

I planted a Persicaria "Painter's Palette" a few years ago. It was really beautiful and sparked a lot of interest in those who saw it.

However it did not come back up the second year, and I did get a small one the the third year. We'll see if anything shows up this season. I will say that it was the very last thing to come up in the spring. You might want to hang in there a little longer, just in case.

Linda

Melissa, planted Painter's Palette in 07, orig did not come back but a handful of seedlings did - I think ants did some planting as some were a distance away . The seedlings came back in 09 and see a couple already this year. A bit shaded and dry - so that may be a reason they have not spread greatly.

Paul