I just ordered once from Dr Berkutenko, and one third of her seeds germinated. I think some of the seeds may have been old. I ordered in the fall, thinking I would be receiving current seeds, so my order included seeds that require to be sown fresh. Then her new list came out, I think in January, so I thought that perhaps I had received seed from the previous year. She is in an area where seed collectors go only rarely (I can think of one Czech expedition to Kamchatka), and Russian botanic gardens and universities have had to scramble for operating funds so I don't mind that all the seeds don't germinate - the money goes to a worthwhile cause. However, I would not order any more ephemerals except for ones that are labelled as newly collected. Seeds that germinated: Atragene (Clematis), Dracocephalum, Erigeron, Gentiana (only 1 of 5 ordered, though) and Rhododendron. Seeds that did not germinate: Anemone, Angelica, Cimicifuga, Dryas, Erythronium I did not try any of her iris seeds, but they might not germinate easily either, if my lack of success with a lot of iris seeds from SIGNA (Species Iris Group of North America) is indicative . Diane Whitehead who still has some bags of uncleaned seeds sitting on her kitchen counter since last October, so I know how it can be.