My opinion: You would certainly have better luck planting now than storing till next season. I would keep them in the garage, watch the weather forecast and pick the warmest day of the week, wait till mid day when things warm up a little, plant, and then mulch well. I would be surprised if you didn't get a pretty good result.

What Brandon said.

Actually, I planted 300 'Ice Follies' daffodils once for a procrastinating client on Feb. 1 and they did fine, just bloomed later than normal that first spring. I don't advocate this approach, as the weather was beyond miserable that day and planting daffodils in the sleet is gruesome work. I couldn't feel my toes for days.

And, another plant torture story: I actually completely forgot some iris rhizomes for way longer than you're talking about. As a result they sat in a box in my garage from September until June (!) when I ran across them. I thought I divined a bit of life remaining and potted them up, figuring, hey, maybe one or two will pull through. They're fine.

I don't have a similar story concerning peonies, and my experience with them is that of the three they resent transplanting the most, and prefer to be moved in late summer. I'd be inclined to put them in big pots of excellently draining soil and keep them cold but unfrozen over the winter, planting them out in early spring. If you do plant them, put a lot of pine straw or evergreen boughs over them to mulch them well so they won't heave out of the soil, which will kill them. Same with the iris, actually. The only danger is heaving, as they haven't had time to put out anchoring roots.

Marty

I would plant the daffodils and peonies in the ground now. In the Spring, the peonies will be trying to sprout and if there are no roots to support that growth, I doubt that they will make it. By planting now, they will begin to grow roots during the winter.

Iris are extremely hardy. But if they are ones you really want to make it, I'd pot them up and keep them in a garage or basement so they don't freeze but get light. Water every once in a while but don't keep damp. That said, last year I gave some iris to a friend who ended up leaving them unplanted on a shelf in his unheated garage all winter and about half of them made it.

Good luck!
Neil

Cheryl, I am with you! I came across 4 bags of bulbs the other day that I had forgotten. Good to know that I can still plant them.

Rebecca

Cheryl, a couple of weeks ago I found a bag of daffodil bulbs that I had dug up from a customer's garden earlier this summer. She didn't like the little ones, but I love them so took advantage of her dislike and generosity. Anyway, they were already starting to sprout in the bag when I found them. Like Marty, I've planted Daffodils and Tulips as late as February and they did fine. I'm not up to planting them in the sleet though! Brent Heath of "Brent and Becky's Bulbs" spoke here a couple of years ago and recommended planting all bulbs around Thanksgiving in our climate since the soil needs to be cool at planting time and to stay cool afterwards. I'd think now is not really all that late for the bulbs you found.

As for the Iris and Peonies, they'd for sure be better off in the ground than in a box. Marty's right about the time to move Peonies, but since yours are already out of the ground, If they were mine,I'd go ahead and plant them. Since both Iris and Peonies perform best in cold climates, and really poorly in warm ones, I'd guess they need a cold dormancy period, and they might not get that if you don't plant them outside. Now don't quote me on that... I'm only guessing and have killed Peonies before, but not because I planted them too late. If you have enough and want to be sure that at least some survive, why not follow Marty suggestions but plant some in containers and some in the ground. In the spring, please let us know which worked better.