OK, here's the situation:

I play SoG in Planning phase, exhaust it immediately and get 2 resources. Then, in the SAME ROUND, in Refresh phase, I refresh this card AND immediately exhaust it again (there IS an action window after refreshment) to get another 2 resources.

Is it possible? I understand it is, as it isn't written on SoG card that it can be used only once per round.

I don't think you can do that as the refresh phase comes before the planing phase.

No, Refresh is last (7th phase) and Planning is second...

I think that the play is legal, but then Steward of Gondor is exhausted for the whole next turn, since it only refreshes in the 7th phase. So it needs a situation in which you must have resources left at the end of the round (Word of Command on a recently refreshed Gandalf before he leaves play?) to make it worthwhile.

I wanted to gather extra 2 resources to play Lore of Imladris to heal all damage on a hero.

But of course I could do this in next round.

Perfectly legal but as pointed out SoG stays exhausted for the whole next round.

Legal and advised as explained at http://talesfromthecards.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/5-things-i-wish-i-wouldve-known-when-i-started-playing-lotr-lcg/

So, for example, you can use this window to exhaust a readied Gandalf to play Word of Command (which requires you to exhaust an Istari character to pick out one card from your deck) right before he pops out of play.

What the others said. Some cards even have this as a requirement - the Lore Aragorn hero, for instance. He needs to be exhausted in the refresh phase to use his ability - and unless you have a card that allows him to ready, like Unexpected Courage, he remains exhausted for the whole next round.

he Lore Aragorn hero, for instance. He needs to be exhausted in the refresh phase to use his ability - and unless you have a card that allows him to ready, like Unexpected Courage, he remains exhausted for the whole next round.

There is nothing in his text that says he needs to exhaust in order to use his ability, just that it needs to be done during the refresh phase

Refresh Action : Reduce your threat to your starting threat level. (Limit once per game.)

Really? I always thought that Refresh Action meant that instead of refreshing a particular card you leave it exhausted to use its ability. Is there any other reason for it to be called Refresh Action?

Like Combat Actions are actions that can be played only during the Combat phase.

It's in the rulebook,

Some action triggers are preceded by a specific

phase of the game. This type of trigger means that

the following action can only be triggered during the

specified phase. For example, an effect with the trigger

“Quest Action:” can only be triggered during an action

window of the quest phase. Actions without a specified

phase can be triggered during any action window

throughout the round.

Really? I always thought that Refresh Action meant that instead of refreshing a particular card you leave it exhausted to use its ability. Is there any other reason for it to be called Refresh Action?

It's called refresh action to indicate that you can only perform it during that particular phase. Just like the "combat action" on Feint means that you can only play that card during the combat phase, and not to cancel an attack that occurs during another phase (e.g. from an ambush effect in Road to Rivendell).