Are you growing in pots or in the ground?

This is what I do.
I soak the tubers for 12 hours or so to get them a bit plump and hydrated, then plant in a free-draining mix (I incorporate chicken-grit - flint based, not oyster shell), about 1inch deep, in pots then leave out over winter. These little anemones are surprisingly hardy as long as they do not sit in cold wet ground all winter (which is why I asked about pots). This is the perfect time to sow them - I sometimes keep mine in the cold greenhouse and start them early into growth by watering the dried out pots (I keep them on the edge of dessication) in order to force them into earlier growth so as to flower with the ranunculous. The worst time is spring planting - these nearly always fail....so yep, get on it....not too deep and not too wet. I have never bothered with keeping bulbs or tubers in the fridge....
If you like, you can actually sit the tubers on a layer of grit when planting to ensure the roots do not rot off.
If you are planting in the ground, try to cover with a sheet of glass or a cloche to prevent wetting - this is a certain death.

Hello Campanula,

I have already replied to your most helpful post once yesterday, but when I checked this a.m. it had not gone through; I suspect I was not logged in as I thought I was, but at any rate, I tried to reply to you right away.

Many thanks to you and to every person on this network who shares their experience. It's so terrific to get to ask a very specific question and receive a reply almost right away from someone who has actual experience with the plant.

I was planning to plant in the ground. I have 10 bulbs, but after reading your post, maybe I should plant half in pots. When you say that sitting in "cold wet ground all winter" is a problem, it's worrisome because that pretty much describes British Columbia in winter. There will be rain in November, turning to snow, probably in early December, and snow on the ground until March, whereupon more rain will ensue for a couple of months. Not constant of course, but the ground will be wet. The nursery where I bought the bulbs said they were hardy to Zone 3. That would definitely mean cold, wet ground all winter. I live in Zone 5, which is quite a bit more moderate.

The soil around my house is naturally sandy, as it sits on an old creek bed. I was planning to plant some of the bulbs in what I call my "rock garden", but all it is is a very small space in my garden, surrounded by rocks, where I hope to plant a few alpine plants. I live in a relatively remote, tiny village in the mountains and don't know where I could get chicken scratch. But I brought down from the mountains buckets of clean, quite coarse sand, which I used to fill this area, using about 75% sand, the rest being soil and compost. I will certainly soak the bulbs as you've suggested, and lay them on a layer of sand. Some of the other bulbs, I was planning to plant under an old birth tree. What do you think?