I have been one of those--like the experts on the panel on Mid American Gardener--who buys bulbs and then forgets about them. If I am Lucky I remember to put them in the ground in December, (or August for summertime bulbs) and not find them until the next March!!
ALL bulbs need to stay moist. IF they are good to go for your zone, then the ground will keep them from drying out. If not, then you have annuals, like we do Here with gladiolas, although I have had a few survive our winters if they are protected and heavily mulched.
Keep them in the package, but keep the package in a dry and dark and COOL place bc the package has the correct moisture and you don't want to rot them. Don't know about Dahlias, but daffodils (I think) can be grown in zone 3. It is a spring bulb, should have been planted last Fall, will STILL do fine, only you may Not get any flowers this year. But, GOOD NEWS!!! All bulbs that survive and thrive double every year!! One daffodil will be 2 next year, 4 in 2021, etc. Those that do not flower this year, but are in the ground will flower next year, so be patient with them.
I dug up my front bed next to the sidewalk last summer. I had planted daffodils, tulips and some other bulbs, but the bed had weeds and some compaction, so I cleaned it out. I found a TON of bulbs. My next door neighbor wanted some, and I gave her the biggest ones. I looked out this week and even the tiny ones are breaking ground. She is not a gardener and asked me about "forcing" her new bulbs. I suspect that she let them all dry out bc I don't see any coming up in Her bed this spring.
Another story--I bought crocus bulbs in 2018 and started them inside. They came up, never flowered, but died back in my guest bedroom. I was cleaning out pots in January, 2019, and it looked like about 6 of them had NOT dried out, so I put them in a pot on top of the fridge and they grew. The soil that they were in was dry as a bone, but they survived.
I found some bulbs in my basement that weren't so lucky. They were left in the original packaging and they dried out and died. They were hard as a rock.
So, the lesson is, don't forget about these bulbs. Do your dahlia research, but the daffodils can go right into the ground NOW, or as soon as you can dig the holes for them. TRY to put them 3x as deep as they are wide, BUT, BULBS WILL DIG THEMSELVES DEEPER if you have planted them too shallow. They are the most excellent way to grow flowers if you don't have a lot of experience. Too bad the flowers are seasonal.
and the deer will chomp on the tulips too.
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