By Christina Keys, Manor Park Chronicle, November 28, 2022
...At a local Manor Park event last December, I picked up many free seeds packets from the Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library. This “library” allows you to borrow seeds or seedlings for free with the hope that you will donate back seeds from the mature plant in future years.
Following their instructions, I grew hundreds, maybe thousands, of native perennials in a few dozen containers on my deck over winter. The steps were surprisingly simple and easy. Most native seeds need the cold of winter and the moisture of snow to germinate, a process known as cold stratification. This process breaks the seed dormancy; the seeds sprout when temperatures warm up in spring.