Lots of people up north do grow brugs, cut them way back in the fall and just let them go dormant through winter. Kept in a cool basement, they're easy. If you keep them in a pot, it's easy to get started again in spring if you have a sunny window, so they will bloom all summer for you. Less trouble and more vigorous than growing annuals, jmho.
You can also just take cuttings in fall and grow new plants each year. Cuttings grow roots in a week in just water. My first brugs grew from 8in. and 12in. cuttings into shrubs in one summer, and still bloom once a month.
First pic, new cuttings just potted in May 2011, second pic, the right hand cutting was 6ft tall and blooming by July, third pic the left hand (wimpy) cutting blooming in July.
