Wait until after cold spell to plant

Absolutely, wait until there's a bit of heat in the ground.

Keep them frost free. Potting out can shock the plant and the roots need some heat.

Freezing temperatures are forecast for next week though.

As long as its in the ground before that. Putting it indoors and forgetting to move it out everyday could do more damage.

This time of year I used to divide up a huge herbaceous border weather permitting and never lost anything that was hardy. End of the month I'd plant Dahlia tubers. Dahlias would go in quite deep so it was normally all clear by the time the shoots emerged. Its only 2 weeks to St Patricks day when I used to plant a lot of potatoes.

If its not actually in flowed then its not been forced. No one would bother bringing on these bog standard hardy perennials by putting them under glass. They do just as well outside. They may have been affected a little by being in the supply chain for a while but no grower spends money protecting plants that are that hardy.

You would be surprised. I work in the industry and visit many garden centres and nurseries. And if you look at majority of large garden centres i.e. The orchard, Jones, the pavilion in cork, arboretum in carlow, they have build large glass or plexy roofs and greenhouses covering whole sections of hardy plants, probably due to better customer experience.

Then you have many grovers supplying not only supermarket clearly forced into blooms early. So it really depends where you buy.

Yes I would definitely acclimatise them first and cut off the flowers. They will have much better chance of thriving as flowers takes lots of energy which will better be used to establish the plant.

Hope this helps

Wallflowers can have a few flowers all year round but aquilegia should barely be in leaf at the moment, much less in flower.

Agreed that the covered garden centres are a liability, producing immaculate plants that are easily knocked back by sudden exposure to cold. Normally I would suggest that perennials should be able to go directly into the garden, but when they are tender from being protected they need to be gradually acclimatised. Not by taking them in at night but by putting them in a sheltered spot, with a bit of extra protection if there is hard frost. Never keep outdoor perennials in the house even for a few days.

Better option is to find a nursery that has its hardy plants permanently exposed to weather, they might not look as dramatic and perfect as the ones raised under shelter, but they will have a better chance of surviving.

If you are in the south east you could check out Ballinlough Garden Centre near Kill, County Waterford. They do not have an online presence and and don't usually answer the phone, but they have a lovely wide selection of healthy plants exposed to weather (plus some tender plants under cover) and reasonable prices.

Just be mindful of the very cold spell forecast this week, sharp frost and snow for some places.

I love wall flowers, mine lasted 8 years. It was the first thing to flower in February and was in bloom right through till November each year. I don’t know any other plant that flowers so prolifically!

Never heard of Ballinlough Garden Centre thanks for the suggestion Looksee!

Oh the joy of finding a new garden centre!

Mine was bowels perennial wallflower version. I planted it in a dryish part of garden full sun, slight slope and free draining. It’s the only part of the garden that doesn’t have heavy clay as there was no soil there originally so brought in nice loose free draining stuff. I gave it very little attention to be honest and it just did its own thing, mulched in spring with compost, hardly deadheaded, maybe 2/3 times a year to take the bad look off it, I never cut it back. Lasted years through all sorts of weather with no issues. I was completely amazed by how long it flowered. So cheerful to see it in early spring before anything else!