too late for seeds?

I bought several diff seed packets end of last summer at bargain prices. I am a beginner gardner and have planters and pots in my back yard facing NE. My plan was to wintersow most seeds but i had been so busy i never did.
Now its first week of april and i have not even planted one seed! My container garden has perenials that have started new growth-
Eunomys, strawberrys, primroses, roses, lavender, astilbe, rodgersia, hydrangea, creeping charlie and jenny.
My bienials that started last year, i cant wait for the flowers this year. Forget me knots are blooming now. Also looking well are the columbines, lynchis pink and foxgloves.
I Dont want to spend wasted money on bedding plants etc too expensive. Last year i had average success with my annual seeds last year, some started last jan/feb and some didnt bloom well were started too late like last may and june.
Can anyone advise me which of these seeds are worth starting now (2nd week of april).
My seed collection>
Cosmos, black
Beauty pansies, mix sunflowers, salmon pink sweet pea, johnny jump up, geraniums, cherry toms, lobelia, dwarf snapdragon, swan daisy, gem tagete and anagalis gentian blue.
I have not tried most of these before. Last year i grew loads lobelia but very few flowers. Can anyone help me, which can i grow now and which should i not bother with?
I live NW UK and my yard faces NE so is quite shady in summer. I have a nice indoor window i can use which faces SW. Thanks for reading!

Since i'm up walking around tonight and I 've grown a few of thosei 'I'll see if this help's you some. I have sunflowers growing and it's actually frozen on them a few times and it's no bother to them.You wouldn't think that with sunflowers would you.?
The cosmos like the hot weather so if it's still cold where your at I'd wait a while before starting those. I haven't had much luck with starting snapdragons pansies and the like although I do have a few of them.
I can't give anymore advice than that ,I know the flowers in the last sentence like cool places in hot weather
the cherry toms and geranium should grow in the SW window and I've grown them before in SSW window.Not at the same time though,so I don't know what effect they might have upon one another.

Jenzuk - I think you aren't getting many answers because most of us aren't familiar with your climate. In the US here people in Florida are getting toward the end of their season, hot humid weather will soon do their gardens in, while I just started my tomato seed a week ago and expect it'll be 5 to 7 weeks before they go out in the garden.

I would say that you should give it a try with most of the seeds that you listed. But keep in mind that seed held from one season to the other will loose about 10% of its viability each year. And that is if the seed has been held over properly. You already have the seed and say that you are a beginning gardener so why not experiment? The best way to learn is to try and if you make mistakes you learn from them. I would suggest that you keep a journal so that you can go back each year and look up what you did. From that you will be able to plan for the next season.

For the most part but not always flowering plants like as much sun as they can get so a shady area may not allow some of the plants to bloom. Regardless I still say you should experiment and see what does best for your location.

For success with the sunflowers, cosmos, sweetpeas and tomatoes, you will need to find the sunniest part of your yard for them to thrive.

I agree that it's hard to give advice for somewhere so far away. What concerns me more than if it is "too late" is that you may be trying to grow in too much shade.
Most flowers need quite a bit of sun and without it you are doomed to failure. Maybe you should try putting in some plants that don't mind it shadier. I have foxglove and rose campion blooming in the shade. There are lots of woodland plants you could try, check out the "shade garden" forum. Sunflowers and tomatoes are like the most full sun plants you could have.

It's not as you would think, here in UK if we want to grow tropical or succulent plants, we need to grow them in doors as house plants while those luck Floridians grow these as garden plants, some other plants we grow here may require grit or fine gravel added to soil to help drainage because of our rain fall, what we all have to do no matter where we are is, find out the plants needs and what area it came from in it's natural habitat and hey presto, you have half a chance of success.

I would say Jenzuk that as you already have the seeds, read the instructions on the back of the packet and you wont go wrong, and also look at what the label tells you like are the seeds annual (plant grow, flower and die all the same year) or are the Perennials, (sew seeds one year, seeds germinate, grow the seeds on into larger pots, plant outside end of summer, Flower the following spring, flower that summer and every summer there after)
the things like Roses, Rgersia etc are more like shrubs and will need care from seedling stage right through till about 3rd year before planting outside in growing position but, the instructions on each packet should tell you the time to sow the seeds, when to re-pot, and when / where / to plant the seedlings out into the ground.
As you are new to this I would start a gardening diary so the next year you can follow on what is required the next season, how the plants did, do you like them and will / wont grow them again, it helps also recognise your plants by name, needs and size.
good luck, just give it a go and see what comes up. it's not rocket science, but you do need patience and time.

Good luck, WeeNel.

I am growing sweet pea and anagallis like you. The sweet pea germinated after about 3 days after I soaked them for 12 hours in a 50/50 mix of water and hydrogen peroxide. It softens the seed coat and gets water inside faster. They germinated 4/21/2012, so I'm sure yours are fine to start now.

I was hoping my anagallis from last year would come back as I kept it indoors, but it doesn't look like it. I just put a few seeds in a container of soil a few days ago. I had a lot of trouble with these last year. They were so prone to "damping off", so I suggest keeping the surface of the soil dry. Starting them indoors caused them to be quite weak and the stems were really thin, and too much direct sunlight would cause seedlings to wilt. This year, while the weather is 5-10C, I'm going to keep them outside from seed so that they get used to the sun and wind as they first start growing. And I'm going to chop them at 5" so they don't get too tall and floppy.