Sorry to hear about all your troubles, but glad it sounds like things are back on track. I would put them in the garage before any hard frosts begin. The lilies should be going into dormancy then and will wait out the winter. Find the warmest spot, group the pots together and maybe cover with an old blanket? They shouldn't need any water and having them a little on the dry side might actually help. Hopefully they can handle the lows in the garage. I thing the basement will be too warm and they'll start growing earlier than you want. I'd like to hear what other people suggest, I sometimes have trouble overwintering bulbs in pots. You might want to get a roll of landscape fabric to line your baskets. The fabric kind, not the plastic. It will last longer than the paper.

Hi, I have both the Cheddar and purple Califlower. I am interested in your corms. Deb

I store my hardy waterlilies in the tubs they are growing in, still wet, in closed garbage bags in the basement. Cut off all of the lily pads and flower stems, and let them go dormant for the winter. There is not enough sunlight or warmth to allow them to grow and flower in the winter anyway. I open the bag once a month, if I remember it, just to exchange the air. In the spring they are starting to re-sprout new leaves, and they are ready to be divided and re-potted, fertilized, or just put directly back into the pond. They could stay out in the pond as long as they don't freeze but my pond is only 2 1/2' deep so I don't risk loosing them, and just haul them into the basement. I've wintered them over for 15 or more years this way.

Just to weigh in with another viewpoint... I'm into my 6th year of growing lilies in a cold climate. I can only leave Asiatics in the ground so I grow all my Orientals, Trumpets & hybrids in various size pots. In the fall I'll un-pot them all. I then put them in individual baggies with some wood shavings from the local lumber yard. I either don't zip the baggie or I poke holes in it if I do zip it. (no rhyme or reason to that part) They then go into a designated 17 cubic ft fridge at 35-40 degrees. They stay there till they decide to come out of dormancy late Feb or early March when they get potted up again in a heated garage. My losses are extremely negligible and seem to be only when the wood shavings were too damp. I've also received orders from vendors on the east and west coast in October for all types of lilies. I open the box when it arrives (because I love the smell...lol), then I immediately close it back up and stick it in the fridge just the way it arrived. Personally, I've not had luck burying the pots in the ground, even with mulch and a few feet of snow cover. Not sure what your winter temps are though so that process may work for you. But as long as it is very cool and dark, I don't see why you couldn't somehow store your bulbs for your move...Maybe my system isn't supposed to work, but it does.