These should winter sow well, but period as long as 3 months moist at 40F is suggested, so you'd better get them out ;0)

Grannyh, that's so great you have a Monarch way station!

I haven't sown these particular seeds before, but I agree with morz8, you want to get these seeds sown outside as soon as possible. Some native seeds only need 60 days of cold moistness to sprout, but this one does need 90 days, apparently. See the link below for more info:

Ptelea trifolata

Some data even lists this seed as needing 120 days / 4 months of cold, moist stratification.

So if you're in an area with very long, cold winters where it stays around 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 Celsius) or below until end of April / first week in May, the seeds should germinate. If you're in Canada, you may have this kind of winter? Minnesota maybe? Alaska? I've never lived anywhere that cold.

But if you sow these particular seeds this late in the winter, and your area begins warming up to over 40F in April, they may not sprout.

You might also be interested in the Butterfly forum at the link below:

Butterfly Garden forum

vicleeshouse can you set up your messaging? There are directions on the Newbie Link. Then we can email you directly (and you us). If you click on my username, for example, you'll see in the upper left corner a rectangle that says "Message". Many of us also edit our username. We add our location after our name because it helps people identify where we are, our hardiness zone, etc.

We'd love to hear more about your butterfly haven. Have you considered making an Ideabook with pictures? Sorry if I sound bossy or I may sound like a teacher giving you homework. I LOVED your monarch picture and was drawn to it, wanted to know more about what you do and how you do it. Heidi