If you're trying to grow a native plant from seed, you should be
aware that the seeds of most native plants (here in Wisconsin, at
least) have a latent dormancy that needs to be overcome before they
will germinate. This is because the seeds have to make it through
winter before they start growing. To overcome this dormancy, you
have two options. First, you can simply sow the seeds where you
want them to grow in the autumn and hope they aren't eaten by
anything looking for a winter meal before they have a chance to
come up in the spring. The other option is to simulate winter
conditions by stratifying your seeds.

Stratification isn't a difficult process. The simplest way to do
this is probably just to mix your seeds with sterile sand or
expanded vermiculite, moisten the mixture slightly, and store it in
a sealed container in a cold refrigerator (just above freezing) for
a few months.  After this period, just take the seeds out and sow
them into pots for germination. Alternatively, you could plant the
seeds in pots or germination flats filled with damp, sterile soil
and seal the whole thing in a container before putting it into the
refrigerator. You can even dispense with the refrigerator entirely
and just leave the dampened mixture of seeds and stratification
medium outside in a protected place over the winter; you have less
control over the stratification temperature this way, but it
should still work well enough if you're treating seeds from your
area in this way.