In the zone 5 when a plant goes to seed in late summer or fall I need to know how best to get more plants to germinate from the seed.

Take coneflower for instance.

I would think it's best to gather the seeds (before the birds), store them over the winter and then spread the seed in the early Spring?

I've always been confused a bit about the process -- certainly seeds that fall to the ground in fall become useless because of the snow?, so it's really a matter of what seeds remain intact and dry enough to germinate in the Spring, if left on the plant? I guess what I'm trying to ask is that Spring planting beats Fall planting any day for areas that have cold winters? or not?