Can Grape Hyacinth Bulbs be stored?

I've been trying for several years to remove the Grape Hyacinth in my flower beds. It's totally taking over! I love it, but it's not worth the headaches! I've got a friend out of state that wants the bulbs, but I'm digging them out as I have time, and I want to mail them when I have a full box. I sent her one big box of them very early this spring before they started blooming. These were ones that I dug up over a day or two and mailed right away. She planted them the day she got them, and they bloomed nicely for her. My problem now is that I've got a bunch that I just dug up in one flower bed, but there are about a million more that have invaded one of my iris beds. I need to wait until the iris are done blooming to dig those up, so I'll need to store the ones I dug today, and will continue digging, for about a month, at least. Is there anything special that I need to do in order for the bulbs to survive? I don't know much at all about bulbs, so I don't know if these will even produce flowers again, if left out of the dirt for a month. I have this awful feeling that if I put them in pots with some dirt until I'm ready to ship them, they will spread all over the place again! They seem to leap out and replant themselves in my yard!

Any suggestions on temporary storage would be most appreciated! I'm probably doing this at the wrong time of the year, but it's the only free time I have!

Natalie

Just allow the foliage to die down. Then dry them out and send them to your friend. Be sure to pack them in something like newspaper, not plastic.