ceanothus americanus - hot water soak (12 hours), sow 3 months moist at 40F, move to 70F for germination.

Yikes, it's a three month process to germinate?

Longer, it requires a moist chill of approximately 3 months to help to break the seed dormancy, then will germinate when brought back to warmer. Germination won't happen overnight. Not an unusually long process for many trees or shrubs.

Alternative would be to sow and place pots outdoors in late Fall or winter, watch for germination in Spring.

I read that you just drop it in hot water (some even say boiling) and then plant it, and it germinates. I haven't been able to find a source that says it takes 3 months to germinate.

Okay, I found a study that says you should boil the seeds for 2 minutes and then cold-moist stratify for 60 days. And that only resulted in 48% germination.

Do you have a better study that resulted in a higher germination rate?

I am bumping this post as I plan to Winter Sow these seed this season. Do I still need to boil them if I plan to winter sow them? For those of you who grow these, how did they fare? I understand they don't like to be transplanted?

Last winter, I boiled a cup of water, dropped the seeds in and then soaked them for 24-36 hours. I then sowed them in plastic containers with 4''-5'' of moistened seedling mix & vermiculite. I then placed them on the front porch - I did several containers from 3rd week of January thru 1st week of February. Germination occurred around late April - early May in all containers. Not sure of the exact germination rate, but certainly over 50%.

After potting up a couple of times they were planted in the ground July-August. Ended up with 12-15 plants (could have had many more if needed). First years growth finished between 6'' - 10'' in height.

Two years ago, only winter sowed 1 container and soaked the seeds just overnight - no seeds germinated.