I've got a few that need warm cold warm. Right now "Warm" is 57 they've been in a week and a half. I'm giving them 3 weeks of warmth, then off to whatever cold comes their way and then it'll be a gradual warming again. From there I'm going to move things to the back yard in the shade on some shelving and and hope that they germinate sometime in the next year or two. Last year my Warm/Cold/Warms germinated in August.

I never remember to start the wcw sowing in the fall outside. Must write myself a note on the calendar for next year.

I have sown actaea racemosa, black cohosh outside and had germination after two winters.

Have started some other seeds inside for the warm period but haven't cut the time short. I have seen from 3-8 weeks listed for actaea for the warm period so you may have success but if not, don't dump the container. Put it in a shady area and keep it another year.

This will be my first time trying warm-cold-warm on alchemilla mollis/lady's mantle seeds. I put them in tiny Zip lock baggies with moist vermiculite (morz8's suggestion) and set them here on my desk. I'm going to give them 3-4 weeks warm moist before winter sowing & setting them out in the cold. Being a total newbie last year, I just winter sowed the seed/chaff I harvested. Probably just blind luck that I got germination and actually planted out tiny new plants in late summer.

I tried gentian seeds from a friend several years ago--got nothing. I'm thinking I'll try again with WS and see what happens.

Thanks everyone for sharing. It's really helpful to hear other experiences. Mnwsgal, did you direct sow your seeds that germinated in 2 years?

My other thought was if the seed hasn't germinated by the end of June, should I just dump the jug in an area where I would want them to come up? Or leave the seeds in the jug?

girlgroup, it sounds like you leave the seeds in the jugs for 2 seasons? I feel like if I left the seeds in the jug they would cook in there during high 90-100 degree days, and I also would not be very good at monitoring jug conditions all summer long.

I did not direct sow, I winter sowed in a milk jug and kept the jug for two years. Other seeds can take two years as well and I keep many jugs over two winters. During the summer I put them in a partly shaded area and water them when I water my container plants. I also spring/summer sow which means I have other jugs around as well.

Some people will dump the jug but I prefer to keep mine in the jugs. I haven't had much success with seeds germinating in dumped areas.

It helps to know your zone when responding to your questions. Here in MN I open my milk jugs/2Ls partly or completely during the summer to prevent overheating.

Mnwsgal, thanks, good to know. Sorry, my zone used to be listed apparently gardenweb somehow knocked it off, just tried to fix it and getting some errors, but thanks for bringing that too my attention.
I am in zone 6. Depending on the summer it can get a bit crazy hot (which I enjoy) but thinking the enclosed seeds would not. Thanks for your tips. I am just hoping they'll want to germinate this year, I'll keep whispering in their jug all spring, it might convince them ;)

I'll probably jinx this but I haven't had any problems with my zone disappearing like you and so many others.

I too will be experimenting with warm-cold-warm, next year. I have some hellebore seeds that I hope to collect and sow in a container or protected place, then dig up in fall and trade. Hopefully that would allow someone who got my seeds to be able to wintersow them and get germination that spring instead of having to wait for the following spring.

Weebay I just found a site that is awesome on giving details for seeds they sell. They advise that 2 weeks warm is suffice. 3 months cold to follow.

Here is a link that might be useful: Black cohosh at Easy wild flowers

I attempted to germinte some Fringe Tree seeds (Chionanthus virginicus) last year, and they supposedly require a warm-cold-warm cycle which normally takes 2 years, and I tried to shorten into one year. Collected the seeds in September 2009, sowed them in a milk jug and kept them inside the kitchen until early January. Then put them outside to get 3-4 months of cold. Despite that they didn't sprout this year, so I changed the potting mix and put them back outside for another year. I would have just done that in the first place, but thought it was worth an experiment. So maybe this coming Spring one or more of the seeds will germinate? Sorry I can't report any success with this type of seed - as yet!