How would mother nature spread these seeds? when would she spread them? Those are the prime questions to always ask when dealing with seeds.
Nature doesn't wait usually, if she does then the seeds would remain in their "pods" until the time was right for them to be planted.
Cone flowers are a good example, as are most of the nut
trees. The seeds are released in the fall and they overwinter on or in the soil, the next spring they germinate and grow.
Stratification is man's way of doing what nature does automatically, it is an attempt at giving seeds their "winter chill", this can be done artificially (stratification) or naturally (plant in the fall and let winter be the cold storage).
Redhawk