Beware of using bone meal if you have doggies that will have access to that area. I once planted tulips, placing some bone meal in each planting hole. My 3 furbabies did not rest until they had every newly planted tulip dug up, trying to get to 'the bone'. Just try and keep your bulbs as cool as possible, and then plant asap once the area is ready. Sue

Are they Asiatics or Orientals? Asiatics will survive in the ground in zone 3. I am in Zone 1(-50 below) and mine survive. Some are 5 or 6 years old and have to be divided. Orientals won't survive in the ground but after 5 years of storing them indoors, I've not found anything that will slow them down when they are ready to grow. I unpot mine and store in a designated "bulb refrigerator". Initially I put them in in late September at about 40ish degrees because I was also storing other bulbs. They started growing in February. Last year I stalled putting them in the fridge till October at about 33-35 degrees (later and cooler), they still start growing in the fridge in February. I don't know how the growers keep them from sprouting, but mine wake when they are ready and you can't stop or slow them down. If your friend is storing them at 48 degrees, I'd suggest cooler temps to see if that buys him another month or so.

Orientals sprout really late. They should be ok. Make sure there are no apples in your refrigerator. What zone are you? I usually retard bulbs by storing them on my cold cement basement floor, in a closet that stays cold. I'm zone 5, and that works for me.

First, it is absolutely the wrong time of year to be finding lily bulbs for sale!! Started or flowering lily plants, yes; bulbs, no!! Lily bulbs are usually offered in spring and sometimes in fall. They never go fully dormant like many other bulbs do and do not store well at all. They should be planted as soon as they come into stores (March in my area). Lily bulbs available now will either be very dry and desiccated or soft and mushy....neither will grow to produce a flowering plant next season. What you are finding now at a dollar store are just some other retailers older cast-offs and not worth any amount of $$, no matter how cheap! Daffodils, tulips, crocus and other spring flowering bulbs should be available right around Labor Day in most parts of the country and can be planted as soon as the summer temps cool with the start of fall. You might also be able to find lily bulbs available then as well, depending on your location. In general, spring flowering bulbs will be available in stores in early fall....summer flowering bulbs (lilies, glads, dahlias, etc.) in late winter/early spring. Any bulbs you find for sale in midsummer will be stale and not very vigorous, if they even grow at all. And while it will be a pretty basic selection, the box stores (HD, Lowe's, etc.) and places like Walmart sell them pretty inexpensively if the budget is tight.