hello,

i hope this isn't the dumbest question on earth.

i have a number of annual flower seeds which can be planted "autumn or
spring". my question is: if you plant them in autumn, do they grow & flower
in winter, or do they merely grow more slowly & then flower earlier in
spring, or do they sit there & wait until early spring before they do
anything?

a related question: i am hoping some of my flowers will self-seed for next
spring, but i have no idea if they generally will or won't in a cool
(frosty) climate: nasturtium, paper daisies, alyssum (which afaik never
actually die off ever ever ever and are the vampires of the flower world,
but anyway... will they seed & spread?) and poppies. in particular the
poppies, which are just beautiful (flanders fields poppies)!! i've noticed
that things such as love-in-a-mist, larkspur, etc will just come up again in
spring no matter what you do (except if you say "aha! a weed!!" and then
pull them out before the penny drops, like i do ;-), is this the usual for
annual flowers - that they'll just come back again next year if you've let
them seed...? most likely i will have spread more mulch by spring - would
this prevent germination & i should go easy on the mulch where my flowers
are? (or do the seeds stay near the surface as teh mulch breaks down if it's
thin enough?).

lastly while i'm on the subject (sorry!!) i have some dark purple pansies
which are about 18 months old (they were potted, but are now in the garden)
& have not yet died nor ever stopped flowering. is this normal for pansies?
will i have them forever? (are they just re-sowing themselves?!)

thanks in advance - sorry this is a bit long. in short, anything you want to
tell me about annual flowers, go for it g. ta.
kylie