I think I had better explain about my temperatures because I think many Americans keep their houses warmer than I do. The unheated bedroom I mentioned is currently 13C (55F), and the unheated greenhouse is 9C (48F). This is nighttime, but the temperatures don't vary much. My kitchen temperature does vary - right now it is a nice warm 20C (68F) because I've been baking. It will be lower when I turn down the thermostat to go to bed. This is about the same temperature it will be all summer, but of course, with the heater turned off. Those lilies of mine generally germinated either in the spring or the fall, when temperatures were moderate. There was just one vollmeri that germinated in August. Our summer temperatures are temperate, and even in my greenhouse, which will be warmer than my house, the temperature will be about the low to mid twenties celsius (low 70s fahrenheit). Every five or so years we get a heatwave for a day or so when the temperature gets to almost 30 (more than 80F). So you can see that the American lilies germinate at low temperatures. Perhaps if the ones that required almost a year to germinate (washingtonianum) had been started in early fall, or whenever they are ripe, they might have germinated in the spring. Maybe they slowed down because of the warm summer temperature and didn't germinate until the temperature cooled in the fall. This is the way most of our plants behave: their seeds germinate with our fall rains when they encounter cooler temperatures as well as moisture. Diane Whitehead