Well,I,Also would like the answer to your questions.Not silly when you don't know the answers.Maybe some one can answer us both.

Jean

You only have to refrigerate seeds that won't get a natural winter chill, like those you plant indoors during winter months.

If you plant them outdoors now, may not sprout until next spring after they have had the winter chill. You can chill them for a few weeks now and plant out before fall and they may sprout before cold hits. In the southern states you can do this w/o worry of winter killing tender seedlings.

Typical for planning is 1-3 years before first bloom depending on a lot of factors. A few people have started plants indoors in Jan and seen 1st bloom as soon as Sept but their growing conditions both inside and outdoors are exceptional.

So a search on this site for "seedlings". There were several threads on seedling culture during the winter months last year.

Thanks for the replies... I was hoping to start the seeds ASAP once they had been chilled for the recommended 3-6 weeks. I have started seeds of other plants before and had great results with my hybridizing but I've never attempted DL hybridizing so I was wondering just how much different it was.

I was actually blessed by my first hybridizing attempt waaaay back when I was a teenager on some tulips. I crossed a dark purple bloom with a white bloom and got quite a few seeds... that's an interesting thing to cross actually but I was rewarded the following year with some very interesting seedlings... all of which were given to friends except two that I kept. My parents still have them blooming at their place. Well, maybe not the original plants but bulbs from the original ones.

ttfn
Mystic.