I have both perennials and annuals in flower beds, window boxes and containers. Love flower gardens but don't have as much time to attend to them as I would like. The peonies this year are really pretty and the lupines are trying to take over the wildflower garden--and other places they weren't planted in as well. Neesy, the
David Austin roses seem to do better in harsh climates like ours in case Andy wants to try some of those, although if you're in a zone 3, he'd need to make sure he mulched them well in the fall. Otherwise, I think of roses here as annuals because they rarely winter over.