When should I start planting flowers for spring/summer?

location,lighting,and amount of space in needed

We usually stick with fall..hard to know about dry weather around here so when plant in spring and no rain we have to water a lot...have done both spring and fall but like fall best!

you need to figure out a few things before planting. how much sunlight does your flower bed get per day? is a water source available? How deep/wide is your planting bed? any of the bushes related to pines? you can plant out side when the last frost is over and done with, and its at least 60 degree out.

marigolds, petunias, zinnia, bachelor buttons, impatient, cone flowers, rose moss, daisy, those are a few i plant.

In the spring wait until mother's day. Many times Ive gotten impatient, planted earlier, and have had to cover w blankets, foil, or newspaper due to frost. If they are perennials, plant in the fall. The plant goes into dormancy, so you dont need to worry about watering.

My only problem is that I have a huge pine tree in my front yard close to my flowerbed in the front of the house, it throws out a lot of pine needles that linger in the flowerbed, I was told it's hard to grow anything due to the pine needles falling in the the flowerbed area, also I don't get much sunlight in that area, I was told to just stick with more green plants then any colored plants, is that true and if so what are good green plants to place there besides bushes.

floribunda roses, geraniums, bulbs (daffodils, tulips,lilies ) start now. Ambrose

Floribunda roses, geraniums,bulbs (lilies ,daffodils, tulips) start now, unless icy.