Start with seedlings or seeds? Flowers- annuals.?

I am wondering what I should do for my garden... I would like to start it all off with seedlings. They grow quicker and show results faster... but the budget part of my garden says to use seeds- help!


I want a ton of colour, something easy to maintain. I want to "colour up" a strip in front of my house that is about 20 feet long, 14" depth.


What flowers can I choose as seedlings that are cheap and easy to care for? I want something BASIC, I am more concerned with colour than I am with having an award garden!


I have $50 to spend today on plants, what do you suggest??





I livein Southern Ontario, if that helps!

Start with seedlings or seeds? Flowers- annuals.?
You didn't say, but if it is a sunny spot cosmos and zinnias are good and can be planted from seed. Try the tall cosmos in the back with zinnias in front and buy some six packs of petunias for the very front. That way you will have instant color from the petunias and as the season progresses the cosmos and zinnias will be show stoppers with brilliant color. Be sure to dead head them (clip off spent flowers) and they will bloom profusely all season. Just before frost leave the last spent flowers to make seed and next year they will be back on their own. Have fun.
Reply:I'd go w/ plants rather than seed. pitunias keep on producing flowers, switch to pansies in early fall ( they are nice all winter in Ga)
Reply:Pansies, petunias, and dianthus (which my mom always called pinks). Zinnias and asters will give you color in the later summer.Early spring plants are armeria (sea thrift), and violas (johnny-jump-ups). The latter will continue to bloom sporadically over the course of the entire summer. I've got home-planted seedlings of African daisy and Mexican sunflower. They sprouted really easily, but I did inherit my mother's green thumb.