I'll be honest, I've found them to be pretty carefree. I only watered 2 or 3 times all season. With RO of course! Did you ever water yours with tapwater?
They were in my bog (a plant filter for my pond) so, yes it was tap water. My friend in Maryland has a bunch in her bog and they do well. So that's why I tried it. They looked good all summer, but never came back after winter. I think she shut her bog down in the winter, I leave mine run.

