I have had varying success with stratifying. I really think it is used in the US because either the ground gets so cold it freezes, or 'vermin' eat the seed. I find I get better results planting the seed directly where I want the tree to grow, in fertile soil. The climate where you live is cold enough to break the seed's dormancy.
Robyn

Thank you Robyn, I shall try that.

Stratification is also a process which occurs naturally - the seed is chilled (and possibly frozen) over the winter months and, presumably, the outer covering of the seed breaks down and allows germination to occur. In the wild, the seed will fall during autumn, be subjected to the cold over winter and germinate in the spring. Gardeners who do not live in cold winter areas have to resort to providing the seeds with a fake winter in the fridge.

I have a number of hellebore which seed quite readily but germination does not occur until after the second winter. I was curious about the stratification length of dogwood so I looked it up. This site has some fairly detailed instructions for growing dogwood seeds in a plastic bag of peatmoss - 105 days at room temperature (autumn?) and a further 105 in the fridge.

There may not be enough winter left for successful stratification to occur (don't tell me we have another 105 days of winter left) and I wonder if your seeds will come up next spring. You might be looking at germination the following spring.

Have you collected your seed locally? If so, you might try some more next autumn. Find a few patches of ground where you can leave them more or less undisturbed, or use pots, and scatter the seed over the top. Don't cover or mulch over winter.

If you bought your seeds, you might try the fridge technique. The little dears will think it is spring whenever they come out of the fridge, regardless of the real season. You might have to provide extra care over the first winter - but you would probably do that anyway.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.familyresource.com/lifestyles/22/123/

Thanks for the follow up Wombat. I will let you know if they come up next spring.

Hi,
I just picked some dogwood seeds from my mothers tree today . I am going to try two differant ways : Stratifying in the fridge and then planting in the spring and i plan on starting some in pots and keeping them in a safe place outside this winter .... we shall see

It's not practical to plant seeds directly into the ground as there are all kinds of seeds in the ground ready to sprout as soon as you work the soil and you'll be fighting unwanted plants all summer. It's hard to tell the weeds from the dogwood plants.

It's best to plant them in a nursery. After a year transfer them to a permanent location. To make a nursery build a square box out of 2x6's with the top and bottom open. Fill with weed free potting soil to 1/2 inch of the top. Plant the seeds in this potting soil. The box should be located in a sunny location. When you water the seeds, it won't run off because of the 1/2 inch space at the top. Most seeds in the ground cannot sprout through 5 inches of potting soil so you shouldn't have any weeds.

shorething, Did the seeds grow that you didn't stratify?