I had a rude awakening as to the fact that columbine, Echinacea(I'm assuming hybrids) and heuchera are short lived perennials. Supposedly columbine will readily reseed. I have funneled so much cash into my garden! I figured out by trial and error the penstemon is not welcome and agastache laughs at me.

That's okay, one of my Echinaceas got aster yellows last year and had to be ripped out.

All depending on the Echineca you have some I have for many years others only last a couple. The yellow ones are the shortest lived ones for me. I do not know what it is with Heuchera , I used to be able to grow them without any issues and now they just about never overwinter for me. Some older ones like Brownies have been here for many years and the ones that came upon their own do fine but the new ones I get are very short lived.

I'm not sure how they do so far south but my columbine reseed like crazy here. I have them coming up among other perennials and am having to pull them out.

Heuchera lasted 3-4 years here and then died. My violets do well but haven't reseeded much.

All it can take is one bad Spring and I can lose a bunch of perennials. I've learned to just appreciate them while they last.

I used to have several of the hybrid echinacea and I loved them! Probably my favorite was Marmalade, it was fragrant. I now have a species type that is more pink than purple, more flat than recurved and loves to seed. Which is fine with me, nectar for the butterflies and seeds for the birds in the winter. In a separate flower bed the same echinacea got asters yellow and it got yanked out. I have 2 remaining heuchera Marvelous Marble and Berry Smoothie that have lasted 3 yrs.

Kabby, if you want more stalwart entities, consider Gardenias, Crinums, Brugmansia, Hydrangea (where moist enough), Hypoestes (polka dot plant), Dianthus, roses, daylilies, Gladiolus, Iris, Plumbago, and butterflies love Lantana & butterfly bushes.

A few packs of Cosmos & Zinnia seeds can provide big, beautiful blooms. Sunflowers. A 6-pack of inexpensive Coleus is worth so much more in "wow" power. I have no luck trying to do those from seed. People either love or hate 4'o'clocks, so if you love 'em, 4'o'clocks. Fun to start from seed to see what you get.

Those Heucheras are SOOO gorgeous, I almost succumbed to one last weekend.

I know Tiffany!! I was at a nursery in Montgomery this week and they had big beautiful heuchera in gallon pots. I'm just glad my buggy wouldn't fit in the lane next to them, I would have had selective amnesia about them not doing well!
If I could find a dwarf lantana(just found out they can be mounding or trailing) I might give it a try. The only other plants I don't have are the dianthus, plumbago, and hypoestes. Oh! Today, drum roll please, I've been finding some of my hybrid echies that I thought were gone. There are so many oak seedlings I have to remove that they were hiding. Plus I think they needed more time to show themselves.
Four o'clocks, the gift that keeps on giving. My neighbor planted them for me so I would be able to smell them as I went in to work. They seeded on my side of the fence. Not worth digging up those tubers!

Awesome you're "finding" some of your plants! So much excitement when they show you they are still alive.

Selective amnesia - LOL! I've had that before. In the form of accidentally digging up bulbs to plant more bulbs. Of course there's already bulbs there, it's a great spot!

Oak seedlings are the smartest sprouts I think. They get dug in so much that they can't be pulled, and then they put up some leaves. The very smartest acorns can actually convince a squirrel to bury them right at the base of a shrub so you don't notice it growing there until it's 2 years old.

Your neighbor sounds sweet. : + )

Are you finding anything else?

Tiffany I have ordered some phlox that I have missed seeing in my beds. I love the fragrance of paniculata and a bonus is being a butterfly magnet. I've ordered some more crinum and hedychiums. Things are pulling together, but it's slow going because I'm weeding before I plant. In an unheard of precedent for me I'm going to add 3 tomato plants to the mix!

That sounds so nice. I love Phlox!!