Catalpa Tree Seed Planting - August 2022

I recently posted about how I began to divide and upgrade the small seedlings of the native Kentucky Coffee Tree that I've been growing for 14-or-so months and talked about how I've enjoyed the process with native tree seedlings.  I posted about trying other tree seeds in the past - including Catalpa and Honey Locust - as new projects.  That is/was part of one of my 2022 to-do goals:  keep working on the seedling project.  

I didn't jump on the Honey Locust seeds earlier this Summer, but earlier in August, I decided to give the Catalpa seeds a shot.  Why?  I came across a Catalpa seed pod that one of the kids had just busted open on our patio and seeing the seeds reminded me that I should give it a go with planting them.  Here, below, is the pod and a bunch of the white, winged seeds scattered on our brick paver patio:

I decided to try to get these to germinate a couple of ways.  First...by planting them (like 1/4" or so deep) in a series of uncovered containers.  I used a mix of six-and-eight cell seed trays.  Each cell with two seeds.  And... a small container that you can see below.  I put four seeds in this small 3" wide container.  And, after watering it in, I left it 'open' to the world.    Are they viable?  I'm not sure.

But, like most of my tree seedling projects, I'm hedging a bit. I took a 12-cell seed growing flat and planted two seeds per cell. Then, after watering this in, I've stuck it in a zip lock bag to kind of create a greenhouse of sorts in an attempt to seed up germination. See that greenhouse below:

I'm going to tuck them into a shady spot for the next few weeks and hope that the warm air temperatures will help germinate any viable seeds quickly so we can get some good growth before the first frost that's coming in 45 days or so.  Best case scenario?  I have to think about thinning the cells out.  Worst case outcome?  We get no germination and give it a try again next Spring.