Purple milkweed? Could it be Tweedia caerulea? Or is it Asclepias purpurascens? Both can be wintersown, it's just a matter of timing. The tweedia is a tropical plant and cannot handle any freezing temperatures. The asclepias should be fine as it's native and I believe that variety is a northern plant.

Jack in the pulpit is a native too and should wintersow just fine. It grows all along the east coast all the way to Canada.

I have some Mertensia seeds I got from EverWilde. They say these don't need a cold period, so now I'm confused.

But for seeds that do need cold - that's why we Wintersow. You don't need to put the seeds in the fridge. Just sow them and put them outside to get their cold.

~CA

token, they call it Asclepias purpurascens, a place in Winona that sells native plants that should be hardy in my zone. Good, I'll WS the JIP, looks like I have 2 pkts of those, 20 seeds, that should be enough to experiment with. Thanks, I'll WS the Asclepias and both milkweed. I got some Prairie Smoke sowed, too, because the poster on here did hers that way, got extra of that. They were very fast BTW, Prairie Moon Nursery, very nice catalog, too. Asked them to expedite my order because I'm WS'ing a lot/most of it.

sakura, I have no idea why they said to keep cold, looked like they'd been stored that way at the vendor. I know WS'ing supplants the cold stratification, but since I wasn't sure how soon I could get to all of them plus I didn't want to go from cold>warm in my seed stash>cold outside, whether or not I could WS, I can, I put them in the fridge. They'll be fine, just that I understand the confusion, and have no idea why. I didn't look for or at their planting instructions, if any, none on the pkts.

So that leaves the bluebells. Did a little research, and they reseed well and how to transplant mature plants. Nothing about starting from seed though. Got some years ago mail order, maybe 3 plants, and they died in no time. I didn't know how to grow them, think I put them in part shade.

Virginia Bluebells.

Virginia Bluebells is a fairly common plant that occurs in most counties of Illinois (see Distribution Map). Habitats include wet to mesic woodlands, especially in semi-shaded floodplain areas along rivers, bluffs, and flower gardens.

From another site:

Propagation Methods:
By dividing rhizomes, tubers, corms or bulbs (including offsets)
From seed; direct sow outdoors in fall
From seed; winter sow in vented containers, coldframe or unheated greenhouse
From seed; stratify if sowing indoors
From seed; direct sow after last frost

I think all of these should be good for wintersowing.

Agreed and am a mood to get as much done by WS'ing as possible rather than fussing later, will be enough of that getting it planted and cared for. So I'll WS the bluebells. If they fail, I have enough other as it is and can get more and try something different. So WS'ing it is unless someone can make a better case otherwise.