Neither Echinacea nor coreopsis needs cold stratification for the seeds to germinate. Coreopsis generally will bloom the first year from seed but will produce fewer flowers than in subsequent years. You could sow the Echinacea now but chances are you wouldn't get blooms until 2011 anyway.

One of the best methods for growing perennials from seed is to winter sow them. I winter sowed several different types of Echinacea seeds back in January and have dozens of gorgeous, healthy plants that will bloom next year.

I'm attaching a link to the winter sowing forum (hope it works). Read the FAQs, then if you have questions, feel free to email me directly via My Page link.

Also, here's a picture of one coreopsis I winter sowed this year:

{{gwi:198473}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing