Purpleheart dies in winter weather but re-emerges in the spring
I planted a bed of purpleheart ground cover this spring. Somebody told me that it will die to the ground when it freezes. Is that true? Does it always come back in the spring here?Both are true. It’s one of the cold-hardy relatives of wandering Jew. It makes a beautiful purple-leafed ground cover if you don’t mind having a bare bed over the winter. The new growth will emerge with the first warm days of spring.
So the question turns to what might have happened between then and now. Could it have gotten exceedingly dry eight or 10 weeks ago? Have you used any kind of weedkiller nearby? Can you see any kind of trunk damage — for example, mushrooms growing out of the wood? Was this tree hurt by the extreme cold in February 2021, and if so, could it be latent damage that is just now showing up? Those are some thoughts I can throw out since I don’t have a solid idea otherwise.