I'm having that problem too, even in Maine. The plant doesn't die but the stalks die out as soon as we have a warm day, and there isn't enough time in between for them to get large enough to harvest. When I was a kid, we had a patch of rhubarb that pretty much tended for itself, but I guess it has to get really well established before that can happen.
My 50 rhubarb seeds got here today ! It was only $1 for the 50 seeds, and that should give me a good chance of getting at least some of them growing. I am going to start some in the aerogarden, and some in potting containers, and then move them out side when it starts to cool down. I have never tried growing rhubarb from seed, since up in Idaho, it is a happy perennial, and there is always lots of it every spring. Even if you do not have your own rhubarb, there is usually some friend that has an abundance and is happy to share some with you. Since my previous experiments didn't work, I am hoping that I have better luck this time, and even if I have to replant seeds each fall, we can at least have some rhubarb in the spring.
My rhubarb has been in place for five years. Each year, it comes up, looks like it's going to go somewhere, then one hot (80s) day comes along and it either wilts away or bolts. This year is the first year that I have rhubarb that's big enough to do something with. Hopefully, it will produce from now on.
I always force my rhubarb. Put a bucket over th3e crowns in December and you get rhubarb by February and the rest of the year. https://www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/expert-advice/how-to-force-rhubarb/
I don't think I did, although maybe it's something I could try in the spring, but not in the winter. Everything above ground dies out by late fall, and the plant grows from the roots again in the spring.
My point you do it in the winter. It grows when covered and the shoots are Great in Feb. Nothing to do with Snow our your cold Only thing is you don't do it the next year it weakens the plant. Forced Rhubarb is Courage's