If they are carrying varieties that you like my opinion would be 'yes' because the price is quite good in comparison to what you would pay elsewhere.
You seem to already have a good idea what you want to plant and where so my advice would be to get what you can at this price and anything else you can find somewhere else to fill your needs.
Shop now before the supplies get picked over. Early bird gets the worm!!
If it's possible open the boxes(if you don't have to rip & ruin the packaging) to inspect the shape of the bulbs/corms/plants and pick the best. It'll be worth the extra time.
I'll leave the growing advice for someone with more knowledge.

I think it is fine to purchase from Costco. Where do you plan on growing these plants before you are able to put them in your garden? Do you have space inside your house where it is either very sunny or do you have grow lights?

The plants or bulbs available at Costco need to be planted soon as you cannot keep them in the boxes (even if they are kept refrigerated) for more than a few weeks. You would need soil and pots to plant them up.

Have you ever planted roots before (other than bulbs)? Some are trickier than others to grow - Astilbe, Hosta, and Lilies are easy.

I would not wait to get the roots or bulbs from Costco because they will start to rot in the boxes if they aren't purchased soon.

ewwww. No, I don't have any grow lights, nor a big sunny place to put them - or even any pots! Was not aware they would not keep. :(

Rats. There are 14 bulbs in each bag so I'd need a number of pots, and the space, to get them going. Hmmmmm. Will consider this!

hnmm however we are renovating our upstairs attic that gets a LOT of sunlight through 3 skylights...I wonder if hubby would mind stepping over a bunch of pots while he paints...lol.

The plants are to go in my front garden, which is partial to full shade. The soil is very sandy underneath but the previous owners mulched and bedded quite well with rich dark growing soil. There are a bunch of daylilies and some hostas in there now. Before last fall I planted a Hydrangea under the front window and it took off like a shot, bloomed well into October. I was shocked at my success and can only attribute it to the soil my PO put in - my experience is that I do not have a green thumb. Thanks guys!

I just bought a bag of Hostas at costco, they look great. I am not sure about this talk of a virus, I suppose anything is possible, but, I don't have a ton of hostas that I am risking so to me it is worth it!

I have personally always had a great experiance with buying bulbs at costco, both spring and fall varieties. They seem to be top quality, at prices that cannot be found anywhere else.

I was a little puzzled at how early they arrived this year! I bought the hosta and threw it in the crisper with my Cannas, (good thing it is a different virus we are talking about lol) I will keep them there for a couple weeks, and then should be able to pot them up, as I am in a zone 6, (although still in Canada). I will just bring them in / shelter them on really cold nights.

I would suggest being that you are in a zone 4, and don't think that you are going to be able to put them under grow lights, just to leave them. I am 99.9 percent sure that Costco will get a second shipment in a month to 6 weeks or so! They always do for fall bulbs, and I have never bought bulbs this early at Costco before, always in April! So I suspect that I hit the second shipment!

Be patient. Wait for early spring and check out your neighbourhood nurseries, plant sales (check the newspaper for announcements, often in May). Buying bulbs and plants in February or March is a HUGE temptation, but remember that you can often buy better, healthier material when it is time to plant them in April or May. Why buy a small root in a bag in late winter when you can buy a really well-grown potted plant for a similar price later in the year, so you don't have to "babysit" the thing for many weeks. Personally, I might buy lily bulbs if you think they are a good price, but not hostas or astilbes. I can't comment on the cannas.

Just as a follow up, I have to agree with Green Thumb Guy. I would not buy Hosta or Canna roots from Costco or anybody else. Too often, they have viruses. Not every single variety of Hosta is virulent but I would certainly watch out for Hosta Sum and Substance - I know of a few growers that had to destroy thousands of Hosta plants due to Hosta X-Virus (and it isn't that easy to recognize).

I certainly don't want to panic anyone. I'm just upset that I have seen virused hostas and cannas at the big box stores. I have raised the concern to them (and showed them) but they continued to sell them. It's just a lot easier for the bagged plants to be sold without question. In some instances, this is why the price is so good.
With respect to cannas - there are 3 different viruses and each have different signs. Last year, there were cannas at a store that had definite signs of virus. This is Tropicanna. There were lesser signs in Cleopatra - but they were still infected. Not a big deal if you are not saving them year after year or trading with anyone.

Imagine dividing a hosta and passing pieces to friends and you inadvertantly infect their ollections. That's the issue at hand.
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Homemommy,

I would pull your canna tuber out of the fridge ASAP. There is no need to refrigerate them. I have my in my basement and they look good. You should try to keep them above 10C. Below this stresses the tubers and may cause the expression of virus if they are infected.

here's an example.

Well, today I went to buy birdseed and I threw a bag of Lily bulbs in my cart ;)

I never wanted to buy the Hostas, as I mentioned, so thanks about the virus, but not a concern.

I am going to pot them in pots and set them in my sunroom under the skylights. If they die, eh - $13 down the tubes. If they survive, 18 lilies for $13!!!! Thanks everyone!

Nursekathleen,

I think you should be fine with the lilies. worse case, they arenot the ones labelled on the bag. They should definitely survive.

Hope you enjoy them!

Thanks! I may head back later and buy some Astilbe. As homemommy says, they may be an early shipment, and they may get more. They are getting picked over. I had to dig for what I wanted - two days ago there were plenty.

So now what - do I pop these suckers in a big pot and just water them and wait? Anything special I should do? I'm so new to gardening!

It is so early for them to be up. I would try to keep them dormant. A fairly cool place with no light.

With light levels so ow at this time of year, they will expend a lot of energy trying to get enough light and become very leggy. Then you will also have issues acclimmating them outdoors later.

I'd buy bulbs from Costco. I was tempted to get dahlias the other day. These will surely come up with spectacular blooms this year.

You mentioned interest in coneflowers and russian sage too. Coneflowers & russian sages are easily avail. by early summer. I also know how easily these can be grown from seeds and so if you are willing to be patient and give it a try, why not experiment with a couple of packets of seeds.

Ianna

nursekathleen, it's important to choose the right location. Lilies require direct sunlight for part to all of the day to bloom well. They do not like full shade.

Sharon

Well, let me pipe up about my Costco bagged bulb/roots experiences over the past few years. My gardening obsession is with Hostas -have 70+ at this point- and I never fail to buy a few bags of them @ Costco if they are either varieties I do not have as yet, or they're ones I can easily sell in my annual spring plant sales. I have 4 new varieties potted up in my greenhouse as of about 10 days ago.

Yes, I have had several batches of HVX infected roots and there has never been a problem returning those for a refund. The key here is of course recognizing it in the first place, which I can and do. Must say I've become a bit of a nuisance perhaps in some nurseries as I point out infected stock to them..... And I've had my share of mislabeled plants where the contents do not match the description. I ALWAYS pot up my new Hosta acquisitions, so they are much more easily scrutinized during the course of the first growing season.

Lilies are another favourite of mine and yes, you will encounter incorrectly labeled bulbs, but, the price is right...

I have had some problems though with perennials like Heucheras and Echinecea from them. If you buy them too long after they arrived at the store they will have sat at too high an ambient temperature for too long without being planted and you may well find nothing much comes up out of those roots. Tuberous/root perennials from any bare bagged display are best purchased and planted as early as possible IMHO, if you wait too long their viability is seriously impeded.

As you stated, the key is in being able to identify HVX. I see the problem being 2 fold - one the amount of HVX infected stock that is on the market for the unsuspecting consumer to purchase and the inability of the average gardeners to identify infected stock.

I'm not so confident in my abililty to identify HVX so I must rely on a couple people I would consider experts. I am very careful about trades with hostas. I'm worried about the good hearted gardener honestly wanting to trade one hosta for another and not realizing that they are spreading HVX infected plants.

There are a few suppliers that are now providing HVX free plants. They cost a bit more but are tested to be free.

It's not good enough for me that the point of purchase will take the infected plants back. Some places are not familiar with the problem.