I winter sowed 'Snow Lady' Shasta daisy seeds and thus far have zero germination. I winter sowed Shasta daisy seeds I harvested from a neighbor's mature plant and got very low germination. I can't say for certain it's due to the unusually cold spring weather we've had but that's my best guess. I checked Diane's Flower Seeds' website and her instructions for growing Shasta daisies from seed are to start them indoors and there's no mention of a cold period. I'm not giving up on my 'Snow Lady' containers just yet since the weather has finally warmed slightly.

Northerner, very few perennials need to 'freeze', or I wouldn't have many grown from seed - and I do ;-)
Not all even need the moist chill but of those I've sown over the years, more do than don't.

If your seeds had been pretreated or chilled, they would have been sent moist packed because allowing the seed to dry out again once water has breached the seed coat means death to the seed. Chilled dry, shipped dry, is only storage,it does nothing to break dormancy.

According to Clothiers site, these shouldn't need a moist chill. If you wanted to experiment, you could always prepare on container and put that in the fridge for a couple of weeks (40ish is cold enough), sow the rest without the chill. Or, sow and if they don't germinate in about 3 weeks max, chill them for a couple of weeks and bring them back out.

The typical suggestion for Shastas is 68F, surface sown or barely covered - no pretreatment. Let us know!

Northerner my favorite flower is a daisy or any type of daisy. Shasta daisy use to be a flower that I really researched out, did you know there is 150 different types of shasta daisy that luther burbank created?? I know that is totally irrelevant but I just had to throw that out there cause most do not realize there is that many different varieties of the plant.

Anywho after falling in love with the shasta daisy white knight many years ago and purchasing seed and actually getting germination I was sadly disappointed the second year. Ended up that it was nothing like the white knight I had read about and it looked more like the alaska version. Well after more reading I found a website that actually listed the white knight as an f1 hybrid. Now I do not remember what website I read that on and I do not know if it is true, but it could explain why you had low germination and why I had an alaska look alike.

How I actually started my seeds were actually direct sown. I direct sowed them in my unamended clay soil in full sun. I had pretty good germination, I did not do a cold treatment prior.

Northener I have currently of the shasta daisy collection, silver princess, alaska, becky, and snow lady. My favorite of the ones I have grown is the becky. She does not flop, she has a long bloom period and she is evergreen here. I plant her anywhere in my yard regardless of shade or full sun and I get great results. The blooms are about 3" in diameter, and they make a great cut flower. I have never had a problem with disease or pest and I am the type of person that hates to drag out a hose so I rarely water so she is also drought resistant.

Currently I have a clump that I can dig up that is not budded yet that I would be more than happy to send to you for postage. That is if you are interested. Just email me and we can discuss that further if you want.

Oh and after I found that out about the white knight either last year or the year before, I tended to lose interest in the shasta daisy. I just decided I have good faithful becky and I am happy. Now if someone offered me a clump of broadway lights or sunny side up I would probably be on that like gum on the bottom of a shoe, lol.

Here is becky!
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Here is silver princess!
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I forgot to say I also started my shasta seeds in the heat of summer in full sun.