Also, if refrigeration is an option, should I refrigerate or freeze the bulbs...(silly newbie question, indulge me!)

If you bought them recently and they are still alive, hopefully they were prepped with the right freezing and refrigeration by the vendor to bloom this spring. If they were on sale from last fall or something, they might be dead. They will be firm and full if they are still ok.

Anyway, plant them out as soon as you have a patch of thawed soil. Don't worry if it is even frozen a bit, as long as you can work it. They might grow leaves but not bloom this year. I don't know if I would bother refrigerating them now. Are they starting to sprout?

The funny thing is, that Walmart has tulips out with their spring bulbs here. These were left over from last fall, I remember seeing these bulbs in Dec still sitting there.

If you can, I would take these bulbs back to where you bought them. Chances are they won't be of good quality at this time of year, and won't bloom.

In high zone areas, the gardeners there refidgerate the tulip bulbs for 12 weeks before planting out for spring blooms. But they buy fresh tulip bulbs in the fall, Sept or Oct....and they don't get the frozen ground like we do....so they can plant out in Jan.

Good luck with your tulip bulbs.

Sierra