Why not just plant them outside now? You won't get flowers this year either way.

I screwed up, and corrected my post, they werent coneflowers but rudbeckia. But if the coneflowers need a cold period, and it certainly wont hurt if they dont, the practice is the same.I just took a small container of moistened soil, sowed the seeds, then sealed in a ziplock. No air holes. But very important to watch them. if they sprout, remove from the fridge and DEFINITELY the bag immediately.
You could do what the above poster stated, easy enough. But if they need a cold period (which I think they do) they wont sprout till next spring, then I dont think they would bloom until the following yr. I am not sure how long to leave in the fridge, my best guess would be about 2 weeks, similar to the rudbeckia.
Tammy

The seeds won't germinate in the fridge, the fridge would just be used to give the seeds a moist chill to break dormancy if they do not germinate. Germinated seeds, seedlings are not kept in the fridge....those need light and would quickly perish inside your dark refrigerator.

If not winter sowing, the suggestion for the usual pink/purple and white variety of coneflower, echinacea purpurea, is to sow and give them 3-4 weeks to germinate.
If they don't germinate in that amount of time, move the seed pots to approx 40F (refrigerator) for 2-4 weeks, then bring them back to warm (and light) for germination.

Likely early June before you have germination even if they germinate with no chill, best case scenario would be just a flower or two at best this season and I wouldn't count on it. Very few perennial plants are geared to performing their first year, the payoff comes with many years of color later in your garden.

I dont know if the door of my fridge is warmer or what, but I have indeed had seeds germinate in the fridge before. Only one time that I can remember tho, but I dont do this method often.
My rudbeckia seeds were in the fridge for 2 weeks, then removed.Placed on my window sill, and sprouted in a few days.I have also done as morz8 suggested by putting seeds back in a second time. I am no expert at this stuff, I just try different things, and whatever works, works.
I also agree with you about perennial performance.
Sometimes I just dont explain things very well. Sorry if I confused the issue.
Tammy

I collected seed from one of my Echinacea 'White Swan' plants last fall and WS'd them getting lots of sprouts. But I also performed a germination test on the seed right after it was collected, without any cold stratification and about 50% of the seeds sprouted. (Sometimes I do germination tests to see if the seed gets decent % germination). So I don't think cold stratification is required for this Echinacea - although it may improve germination rate.

My Echinacea plants are open-pollinated, supposedly I could get both white and purple coneflowers from this seed. Don't expect blooms until next year though.

Echinacea doesn't need cold stratification to germinate but they won't produce flowers until their second season. I made a chart from information I found on the Internet so next year when I winter sow I'll know which seeds need cold strat and which don't. The list of perennials that need cold stratification is a lot longer than the list of those that don't. I WS Echinacea 'White Swan' and have lots of seedlings but don't expect they'll produce flowers until next year. It has to do with that perennial sleep/creep/leap adage. There's a thread about which perennials bloom first year from seed. Quite a few on the list bloom first year to get you through until the others flower.
Good luck! Have fun! Be patient! Some things are just worth waiting for.