I usually wait until the soil temperature warms to about 60°and last chance of a freeze is behind us, before planting them in the garden.
I dig them in the fall after the first light frost, wash off the soil and store them, uncovered on a bed of peat moss, in my basement, where the temperature remains above 50°during the winter.
No need to rush, they won't sprout new foliage until the soil warms up and spring truly arrives!
Good luck!

Thanks!!!

I have planted caladiums early and had them just sit there or even worse, ROT. Now I don't plant them outside until the end of April or May 1st because that's when it's usually warm enough for them to really take off and sprout.

I shopped one of the big box stores recently and came home with a carton of 50 bulbs, (impulse buy, which they count on)! Now I'm trying to decide what to do with them, since I'm completely out of space in all of the prepared flower beds.
Do they make good potted plants? Recommendations?
Rb

They do make good potted plants; I've seen them in pots and they are beautiful! I used to have them in permanent planters on my front stoop in another area, Zone 8, and they filled them full with beautiful color every summer. Now, I have them intermingled in the ground throughout a hosta and fern bed...my ferns looked sickly after last year's drought (two years, I guess), so I'm hoping that the rain these past couple of months will bring them out more and adding the caladiums in a month or so will ensure that I have the same, beautiful, colorful bed I had two years ago.

Now if I could decide whether or not to replace all my dead azaleas that I've lost from the drought...not sure I want to invest all that money for them to die on me again. ARGH!

Thanks for all the information!
Beverly