I've grown the Dollar General seeds and my experience is like Nature Girl described above. I grew their yellow squash, detroit beets, zucchini, turnips, cow peas, and chives. Great stuff, no problems; all "old fashioned" open pollinated style plants. I got my seeds for 10 to 25 cents per package. What's not to like! I don't need 100 squash plants growing simultaneously, my package had 35 zucchini seeds in it and that was plenty; I put in 5 seeds per hill for 7 hills of squash. The first time I got Dollar tree seeds was Mother's Day 2001. My son was upset because he only had a dollar and he had wanted to get me a hanging basket for Mother's Day (he was 10). I took him into the Dollar General and persuaded him that planting a few packages of seeds for flowers into my veggie garden was even better. He bought Mammoth Sunflowers, Bachelor's Buttons, and Calendula and planted them into the veggie garden. They performed beautifully. I still have volunteers from that Mother's day gift coming up in my garden.

I have sown white-flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) directly into the ground and lost all to chipmunks and squirrels (rats with bushy tails). The few that sprouted were eaten immediately after sprouting in the spring. This year I have winter sown into milk jugs and hope for better results. See Winter Sowing Forum: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/wtrsow/ and the winter sowing FAQ: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/wtrsow/ I previously stratified, but the instructions I read said nothing about warm stratification. I pulled off all of the pulp from the berries and soaked the seed in warm water for about 4 hours. Mix some warm water with some sifted sphagnum peat. (Shaking the peat and water in a jar is a quick way to moisten the peat. All excess moisture should be squeezed out of the peat. Too much water will rot the seed.) Mix the seed with the damp peat. I put the seed/peat mixture in a zip lock bag. (Punch a few air holes in the bag.) Place bag in refrigerator for 100 days. Check occasionally to be sure the peat is still moist. A few of the seeds were already sprouting after 100 days. I planted the seeds/seedlings in an outside transplanting area. The squirrels and chipmunks soon ate those, also. I may try to winter sow these directly into the ground, and put a quarter-inch-hardware-mesh wire cage over the top. (Something similar to a bottomless bird cage.) A few bricks on top to keep the critters from pushing/pulling it off will hopefully aid in survival of the seedlings. Here is a link that might be useful: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/wtrsow/

Ditto on DID's comment... that is remarkable germination for seeds exposed to (presumably) prolonged heat. A couple of notes regarding plastic bags for seed storage. I have had great seed longevity using plastic bags, but have two words of caution. All plastic bags are not created equal; I recommend using zippered freezer bags, since they are heavier duty (to resist punctures) and have better seals... both aspects reduce the chances of moisture intrusion. Along with the recommendations already given regarding proper handling of frozen/refrigerated seed, special care should also be taken to avoid sunlight. Even a short exposure could cause rapid heat buildup within the bag, and could very quickly kill the seed within. When planting, I either transfer small amounts of seed to other containers, or keep the bags in a cooler (without ice) and remove the bag only long enough to pour out seed.

How were your seeds stored? They should be stored in a cool, dry, dark place in the original envelope or something similar. If they were improperly stored any seed will die before it is used. I don't usually use pelleted seed but I have kept, sprouted and grew petunia seeds that were a couple of years old. I think the storage of the seeds has more to do with your lack of germination than the seeds themselves