I think most that you find at garden centers should be considered annuals unless you live further south. I checked the MOBOT site & the ones they listed as perennial weren't the bright flowered ones I'm used to seeing.

V. bonariensis is somewhat perennial for me, but I think this years late prolonged freeze might have killed it. The good news is that this variety re-seeds like crazy for me, so I am not without. That's the story in Columbus, Ohio anyhow.