I'm totally the perennial gardener. My yard is really wild, as I am more the English garden type. Nothing formal for me. I live in the country and love my gardens. I have had to convert them to low maintainence as the fibromyalgia developed so they are a little wilder than I intended but they are still wonderful and they make me very happy.
I include perennial herbs but miss the 40x40' formal herb garden I had when I lived in Ohio. No way I could manage it here tho. Plus I just don't have the soil for it now. Now I have acidic glacial till and rather than fight it, I have learned to adapt to it.