Refrigeration will work fine.

Cindy

 

I started some seeds last month, without doing anything to them. They came up great.

 

I have many volunteer plants that come up during summer from after my coneflower plants have bloomed, so I doubt they need stratification. I'm sure it won't hurt, but it's probably unnecessary.

 

Stratification not needed. Dragonfly kindly sent me seeds almost 2 years ago that came up just fine when planted in one of those Jiffy seed starting kits. I even have seedlings coming up right now from that same batch of seeds that she sent to me, and have had them stored at room temp in a dark closet since I received them.
Thanks again, DF.

 

You're welcome Jeffrey, and I'm sure I'll have more seeds come end-of-summer, so let me know if you need more.

 

Both stratification (cold and moist) and priming (soaking in water before planting) improved the percentage of germination of E. purpurea from 44% with no treatment to 83% with stratification and 69% with priming. These treatments also reduced the time to germination from 13 days to 8 days for strat and 6 days with priming.

Stratify at 40 degrees for 3 to 4 weeks in a little moist potting soil or peat moss. Moist is key here; too wet and the seeds will rot. I avoid paper towels as they often grow mold and bacteria killing the seed.

To prime, soak seeds in clean, warm water for six to eight hours before planting (or stratifing).