Which perennials can we use as annuals, but which may not be hardy enough to make our winters?
Lobelia valida?
Verbena bonsariensis?

Do you mean "Which perennials can we use as annuals, that may not be hardy enough to make our winters?"?

If so, almost any, so long as they are bought as mature, blooming size plants or can get to that state soon enough before frost (assuming flowering is the goal, as opposed to foliage).

Or do you mean to ask about which perennials are marginally hardy here?

Thanks Lori!
I meant which plants which are perennial elsewhere,---- can we grow as annuals in the North.
(Got up too early )

I want to grow from seed started indoors under light, or as a wintersow.

Thanks for the clarification, Caroline. So you'd be looking for plants that can be depended on to bloom early in the first season from seed, that aren't annuals?

Well, I dunno... gotta say this is very much the usage that annuals are perfect for. The various tender perennial plants we buy for bedding out fit the bill too, of course.
DH has grown Gazania (tender S. African perennials) from seed and has them bloom okay. Pelargonium too, of course (but you already knew that. ) Dahlia from seed?

I find it hard to run with this idea since it's pretty far from my usual modus operandi. It seems more rewarding to me to just grow more perennials - they can't necessarily be counted on to bloom in the first season but the effort will be rewarded with years of performance... and there's such a vast number of species that are hardy and uncommon and interesting.

Yes, I suppose petunias fall in there too.
I have kept a basket of petunias over the winter as I do the pelargoniums.

I'll add Gazanias to my list for another year.

I am probably going to be selling my home in the next year or two,
so I am focussing on annuals until I get a new place and a greenhouse.

Self-sowing annuals can't be beat, and can be sown directly... even now in the winter. I only have California poppies (and a scattering of a small number of others) but they are great. Used to have calendula, until their turf was eventually taken over by perennials (mainly self-seeded).
Oh, as I think about it, I guess I have others too... my neighbor's tidy tips and bachelor buttons which the swirling winds have brought into various parts of the yard. The tidy tips have rather a short season, very colourful in bloom though.

Yes, I do the self sowing ones too.
Some biennials too : Siberian wallflower, Forget-me-nots, Sweet William.

I like the dainty daisy flowers of Tidy tips.

Phacelia tanecetifolia comes back most years as a reseeder.

I don't mind buying a butterfly bush (budleija) each year. Maybe with any luck, mine will come back this year. It is up against the house, and piled with snow. It is blocked from north west winds. Fingers crossed!

Yes, sometimes the weather and micro climate can give surprises.
I hope the butterfly bush is your surprise this year.

This past spring I planted 2 butterfly bushes in large pots, I knew they would not survive here in the ground, but I wanted to see more butterflies, they only cost me $3.99 each in 5 inch pots. They grew just fine, I had lots of bloom on both and it sure attracted lots of bees, moths and butterflies. I cut them way back and stored them under the deck for the winter close to the foundation and piled lots of leaves on top, I am anxious to see if they survived.

You are talking about Asclepias? milk weed?

@CarolineScott Caroline, if you are asking me that question, they were Buddleia shrubs, 'Peach Cobbler' and 'Bi-color'.

Thanks !

I plant Salvia and fuchsia plants in containers on my deck. Where I grew up in CA, these were both perennials, here, they are annuals unless I bring them in for the winter (which I don't have enough windows for).

of course---salvias and fuschias should be on the list.
I sometimes save fuchias over the winter.

I love fuchsias, but they don't do too well here, the summer is too hot, dry and the worst is the wind.

I've had excellent results the past two years with the newer heat-resistant varieties. My favorite right now is -


The multi-plant image in the link was taken late in the season; it not only survives the heat but it blooms very well.

I park its container on the leeward (northeast) side of some taller shrubs and a birch tree to block out some of the hot, southwest winds and sun.

That is lovely, I know the hummers are very attracted to them, maybe I will see if I can find that type this spring.

I just placed my order...I'd been dragging my feet in that department a bit this winter.
I really hope they're available in your area. They take the fuss out of fuchsia.


Caroline,

I just type "blooms first year from seed" after each plant I'm researching ...I've found a lot more uncommon varieties than I ever thought I would that way. A lot of times those plants will even turn out to be hardy here...when they weren't supposed to be.