It is certainly possible here in MA with not too much effort. All of mine older ones are sending up buds right now. Give them plenty of sun after flowering and then put them outside in the summer. As Hans Werner suggests feed regularly. The bulbs need to be nourished by the sun and fertilizer to replenish over the summer. I put mine in the shed in September to force dormancy and keep them in a cool dark room until I see them start to grow. Normally this is in early January. I repot some of mine without too much damage. I wonder if buying them at a chain store (a not so dependable source) is also part of the problem. I dont think you need to pay the ridiculous prices at Jackson and Perkins or White Flower Farms but much better bulbs can be had at a local nursery for about $12. Size matters here.

Last year, my bulbs were in lawless conditions. I bought a children pool and put them in it in their pots. It was easier to water them this way. I just poured the water in and they all got some. But then some rains came and completely drenched the bulbs. They were neck up to the water and they stayed that way for a long time by the time I noticed it and let the water away. So I ended up with most of the bulbs shrunk to tiny bulblets that I didn't think would even survive. Then I had to move to the new house, so I unpotted them, cut the leaves and put them in the new wine cooler I bought for this purpose to make sure that the bulbs do not freeze down. A month later I noticed that the wine cooler froze down and even killed about 10 bulbs. I returned it to the store and just bought a huge standing fridge that had the freezer part separately. I kept my bulbs in that fridge. Then I planted them up from Summer, hoping that they would still come back to me. And to my amazement: More than 50 percent FLOWERED! They shrunk, they were sitting in water, they froze down, they were in dormancy for a half a year or LONGER, and they BLOOMED! I am still floored by some of them. Now, they are out in the flower bed, fattening up. I hope they enjoy the situation. So you see, once they want to bloom, they just bloom, even if they kill themselves.

In zone 9, you certainly could plant them in your garden outside... and you'd eventually have a beautiful clump of blooms every spring or summer. However, it's nice to have them blooming inside, where you can more closely admire and enjoy them, as mentioned by sprouts_honor. If you are very careful with your watering, you can keep your bulbs as they are until after they're done blooming. Once they finish, I would re-pot them into a container with drainage holes, and I'd use a more porous, aerated medium. Or, you can then plant them out in your garden... whatever you prefer. The retail market only operates if the consumer keeps buying... and so, they create these kits, and the directions to grow them, specifically so our bulbs will not make it beyond the bloom season. They're disposable. This way, we purchase another one every season. But if you study how hippeastrums grow in their natural habitat, and you learn about their natural growing and blooming schedule and habits, you can keep your bulbs thriving for many years, and enjoy gorgeous blooms once, and sometimes even twice, every year. Those Apple Blossoms are simply lovely, by the way! I won't go into a long diatribe about soil and watering practices, and all that... but I will say, please do a little reading here in the forum. You'll get a feel for how us consummate bulb addicts grow our bulbs... the mediums we use, our container preferences, amount of light required, fertilizers, etc... and should you have any questions, we're all here to help! Happy Gardening!

I hope the ones in the trash were healthy! At least it's good practice.