Country Girl said:
For us, it's annual flowers. I hang window boxes on all the windows in the front of the house and on the back deck and I plant a small side garden of zinnias. Tulip and gladiola bulbs will last for a few years but I end up replacing them often. The annuals are expensive but worth it as they last well into October.
when do you plant them so they last til Oct?
The window boxes go up by Memorial Day weekend, whether it's still cold here or not. It's a mental thing. The zinnias get planted around the same time, maybe a week later, and the gladiolas get planted from June to July. I stagger the plantings every two weeks so I'll have continuous blooms until October. I usually take the window boxes down after Columbus Day weekend.