What kind of flowers can I plant outdorrs living in Northern Iowa,when should I plant them?

I'm concerned about our weather here we'll have a few days of 60 degree weather and then the lows are back to 33 again, also what's a safe way to keep squrriels out of my flowers last year I planted late and if it wasn't neighborhood kids in my flowers it was squrriels. Needless to say I didn't get to enjoy my flowers and when it's warm my family and i spend alot of time outdoors in our yard, I need a way to enjoy it without to much fuss.


Also I love flowers and I have always had something, also I'm kind of limited on space here so any advice to my messed up question would great and thanks:)

What kind of flowers can I plant outdorrs living in Northern Iowa,when should I plant them?
Tulips, daffodils, crocus, gladiolas, chrysanthemum, elephant ears, pansies, roses (I personally think roses take too much care so I do no mess with them, but they will take Iowa's climate), hollyhocks...








In the flowerbeds I have bulb plantings in, crocus, daffodils, tulips, I channel in about 18 inches deep around the bed with finer mesh fencing (1/2" mesh) to keep the moles out (partially back fill with 3/4" road rock), and plant my bulb the correct depth and place larger wire mesh (about 1-1/2" mesh cut about one foot square) just below the soil to keep the squirrels and chippies from digging up the bulbs and eating them. I keep the sections of mesh the size I do so it makes digging the bulb and resetting them a lot easier.
Reply:I live in southern South Dakota, and have been getting the same weather. You can't go wrong with purple coneflowers. They reseed, have nice foliage, and bloom for a long time. I leave the dead plants alone for the winter, it adds some character to a boring snow covered yard. I just cleaned out my bed, and the babies are coming up! I have squirrels too, and they don't seem to bother the flowers. Maybe put up a cheap roll-out fence so the neighbor kids know there is something special there. Most will respect this, but there are the few who.........you know!



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