Hmmmm. It shouldn't need any kind of pretreatment, although a brief moist chill wouldn't hurt it either. How deep are you covering the seeds - barely cover and see if some light helps you. Stachys coccinea - Sow at 68F, should germinate in approx 2 weeks. Warmer temps may delay germination.

olyagrove, tooooo funny about taking them to the swap and little interest was shown. I've done that myself. About five years ago, someone gave me a plant. Didn't know what it was; wasn't that interested, and it barely survived. I mean BARELY, because I completely neglected it. So this past winter, I finally take a picture and post it on the succulent website. Turns out, it is an orchid cactus (epiphyllum). After I saw the pictures of others in bloom, my attitude became "WOW! How cool!" Now I am loving this little stepchild, nurturing him along and hoping he will bloom. Take seedlings to the next swap and I bet they will be more popular now. :) Here is a link that might be useful: Images of blooming orchid cactus - if you are interested

The first 6 inches were soft limestone rubble chunks and some soil., but after that it is a hard limestone. I dug a square 24''x 24"x 8" hole. I piled up the rock chunks elsewhere where I will use it and some boulders to plant a beavertail opuntia. I filled the hole with a sandy/composty mix and added in some of the native soil. This is very friable. I can break up the soil around it too. and add in more garden soil. I should be building a bed but I am a cheapskate by neccesity right now. Other plants (fragrant mimosa,Live oak) have ran their roots through the top rubble layer. I could mound it up above the hole more also.

There are a lot of xeric Mexican sages you can plant, including Salvia melissodora and S. keerli, which will draw your butterflies and other insect wings (bumblebees, even wasps). I'd recommend any of the 3 or 4 available forms of Salvia regla, and many of the S. microphylla and S. greggii forms and hybrids (this includes x jamensis). I'd also explore their relatives like S. chamaedryoides, muelleri, lycioides (especially greggii hybrids), and coahuilensis. You must have fire ants. Dou you also have pine voles? If not, there are a bunch of tuberous sages that should work, including many of the guaraniticas, involucratas (including puberulas) Try Salvia disjuncta Strybing form, S. reptans, west Texas form, S. roemeriana, S. penstemonoides, and many of the S. leucanthas and S. mexicanas. S. vanhouttei forms like Dancing Flames are probably not hardy, but are good bloomers. The broad-leafed ones should go into the shady areas. If you have any dampish spots there (relatively speaking), there are a few others like S. miniata and the S. blepharophyllas.