What to do with trees that just showed up

I ordered some fruit trees at the end of last October expecting them to show up sometime in November before it got too cold to plant. Well, they showed up yesterday. So the question is, what can I do to keep them until I can plant them?

Containers or B&B? I store them in an unheated garage to protect from the elements until spring.
Keep them moist with a weekly light watering.
If they're dormant and hardy, they could be heeled into a pile of mulch outdoors on the protected side of the house.
If feasible, the latter is easier because you don't have to worry about watering them regularly.
Also, the ones outside will break dormancy at the appropriate time,
rather than coming into leaf too early in the garage.

I agree with the heeling them in. They should be good and dormant by now and being in a bit of soil in their natural environment is what they're used to. We've had some pretty warm weather in Chicago and - even with the recent snow - I'll bet our frost line is only 1/2" or so. If you can get a shovel through the soil, that would be best. Otherwise, like Weerobin says, mulch will work. I might add some potting soil, too.

After that, I would definitely contact the supplier and let them know your shipments went out at a very bad time. I have a couple hunches who it might be, but . . .

Good luck!

Plant now, unless the soil is too deeply frozen to get a pickaxe through.

I've planted trees in hard-frozen soil (freeze depth about 15cm) using a pickaxe to get through the frozen part, and they all took no problem.

Resin

Thanks for the responses. The ground isn't frozen yet, at least not very deep. Temps just went south this past week. I will try and dig them in tomorrow, weather permitting. They were ordered from a nursery in GA. All I can think of is that they didn't go dormant until recently, hence the late ship. They appear healthy. They are bareroot also. Thanks again.

Rather than just heeling in temporarily, I'd plant them in their final positions right away. The less disturbance the roots get, the better.

Resin

Bareroot is good!! Definitely plant in their permanent positions if the ground's not frozen and you can handle being in the cold while you make the little skinny hill inside the hole to splay the roots over. Me? F'get about it! I'd just wait 'till April because I'm sort of a wuss with the cold! : )

Looks like the temps are supposed to be around 50 next weekend. I'll try and get them in, as long as the frost isn't too deep.

Hi All

We just purchased 12 Colorado Blue Spruce"s 18-24" from Ebay. When they arrive I'm sure that they will be bare root. We are going to plant them on our northern property in the spring. How can I container plant them in the house so that they begin to take root while we wait for spring?

I would definitely not bring them in the house at ALL. The shock of environment change is too great. If you can dig down in the soil a few inches, just heel them in outside. That will allow them to experience the transition from winter to spring naturally. Don't let the soil dry completely out.