It probably is colder in Maryland. You would have expected my grass to either germinate and grow just fine over the winter... or to wait dormant all winter and then explode into growth in the Spring Except it didn't do either -- I got 5 - 10% germination and a big mud-hole of a yard... I am siding with Tiemco ... because the "Dormant" way basically did exactly what he said. But.. Here's the page from the University of Maryland's Extension site. Here is a link that might be useful: Maryland Extension Turfgrass page

Late October may be a bit too late, IMHO. Maybe wait until spring, till, add a layer of new screened fresh soil, and seed. Add some sort of organic matter be it Milorganite, compost, or Scotts Organic. If you wait till spring to seed, DO NOT apply a pre-emergent. Try Penningtons Smart Turf found at Lowes's or Home Depot as a seed, or your local nursery. Dont skimp on seed. Keep it moist, not soaking wet. I've done this numerous times with fantastic results, without straw to cover. Keep it moist and you do not need straw. Other than that, hire a contractor.

If the sunny area is the front lawn and the shady area is the back, I might do both, but if one yard has both sun and shade, I'm not sure how you'd lay the sod to get it to look nice. I tried some RTF several years ago (probably when it first came out) and was disappointed with the results. It was mostly my fault, though. I didn't start over or even do anything to prepare the soil, and I didn't water it several times a day until it got started. I just threw the seed down and hoped for the best. I also contacted the folks who make it, and did some more research, but ultimately decided I wanted a lawn that uses even less water than the RTF does, so I switched to native grasses. From what I learned, the key to being satisfied with RTF is to set realistic expectations. The marketing materials are truthful, but it's easy to read more into them than what they really say, so people tend to get their hopes up pretty high. RTF spreads, but it does so more slowly than KBG, so it won't fill in as fast as KBG, but it will fill in. Also, many people bought WaterSaver RTF seeds thinking all of the seeds were RTF, but the RTF actually made up less than a third of the total seed. I think that if you go in with the right expectations, you'll be happier with the final results.

Most of the paintbrushes (Castilleja) are semi-parasitic to certain prairie grasses. I have no luck getting them to sprout or even transplant but I have seen other people do it. I've had no problem getting Salvia lyrata to sprout but it takes a few years to get blossoms (but I grow it for the leaves anyway). I'm used to Ironweeds (Vernonia) in dry prairies but they might grow in a damp environment next to a streambed. I grow mine in the dryest part of the yard - mostly to keep them small. In good soil they get too tall to see the flowers. Everybody else on the list needs some winter to sprout and most will take a year or more to get to blooming size.