Agreed - Bark, you'll be fine if you start now. When I've started seeds at the end of March, plantlets were still quite small, maybe first blossoms just starting to form by the time I potted into the hanging pots in late May. So they didn't look like much compared to the huge trailing baskets at the nurseries - but at $25 to $35 plus, it's so much cheaper to grow your own. They probably looked good by July and lasted into September.
I just have to get in the habit of starting them earlier. I've got so much miscellaneous stuff stored on my light shelves, that I have to do a major sorting and cleaning before there is room for the tomato and pepper seedlings. Any early flower seeds usually have to be content with a sunny south window until I get the light stand in shape for the tomato hoards.
Somewhere I remember reading about rooting cuttings from established plants, so you could in theory make a bunch more from a purchased plant. I've never tried it, so don't know how easily they root. We've got a couple of nice nurseries within 20 miles, lots of good stuff, but so expensive. I did shell out $30 (on sale!) for a giant pale pink fuchsia one year. It was so pale it looked almost white, no red or bright pink on it, and had big fluffy blossoms - never had seen one like it. Unfortunately it didn't do well in the house over the winter, so was gone by the next summer.
