plants arrived too early!

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LauriSinger Paddock Lake, WI Mar 22, 2014

I ordered some plants, but we've had a heavy winter and there's still snow everywhere and the ground is frozen. How do I take care of these plants until I can plant them. Looks like temps could get above freezing in about 5 days, tho I don't know if the ground will be thawed. The ones that are in plastic and look like what you might buy in 2" pots...they are green on top, and I figure I should just water them. But there are bulbs and roots both packed in dirt. What do I do with them? Put them in a cool dark spot? Open them and keep them moist? A couple seem to be sprouting already.
Here's what I have: astilbe, columbine, lupines, monarda, balloon flowers, orange glory, orange candleflower, iris, crocosmia, liatris.
Please help!!

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carrielamont Milton, MA(Zone 6a) Mar 22, 2014

All of those are designed to be winter-hardy, right? I bet they'll be fine if you pot them up and huddle them together, maybe pile some dead leaves on top of them for extra insulation. At least the ones that are "breaking dormancy," acting like it's spring.

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WeeNel Ayrshire Scotland, United Kingdom Mar 22, 2014

Iris and the Crocosmia should be the only bulb type plants, the rest are all root grown,
You need to make sure the roots don't dry out, best idea would be as stated above, pot the plants up, even if it means putting several into a wider pot with bags of garden compost from the store, water it and place the plants in a COOL place, but some light as they will be starting to awaken from their winter sleep.
Soon as the weather begins to warm up and you are able to go outdoors to put the plants into their growing area without danger of frost returning.
Make the soil ready for the plants by adding compost or humus Manure is and a handful of mutli purpose plant feed so the plants can get off to a good start.

Hope this helps you out a bit and the plants give you a lovely summer show, The bulbs will last a little longer out of the garden soil BUT only a few weeks or the bulbs will dry out, maybe just treat them as given for the other root plants to be on the safe side.
Best Regards.
WeeNel.

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