I collected some wild seed a couple weeks ago and then popped them into the freezer, thinking that would be a good place to store them. They're all southern Boreal species, and should be able to handle freezing temperatures, and I thought this might be a good way to start the stratification process.
Then I did some reading and realised that some of them require a warm period followed by a cold period followed by another warm period, which is bad news as I've already thrown them into a "cold period". Also, they're currently just stored in envelopes: no sand, soil or water. Now I'm wondering whether they'll think it's "spring" when I take them out of the freezer and add sand/water to them. How badly did I screw this up? Should I just leave them there until I'm ready to start germinating them, or take them out and follow the specific germination instructions for each species? Would it still be okay to sow some of these seeds in my garden before winter (temperatures outside are still significantly warmer than in my freezer, thankfully), or will the increase in temperature spur them to germinate in late fall?