what is in those containers?

cordyline, nemesia, stock, opomoea, diascia, diamond frost euphorbia, etc.

personally, i would plant them. i worry more about the man made disaster of me not watering enough for a plant to establish, than i am worried about cold damage.

Puyallup is a bit colder than Portland (where I live). I plant all winter long.

i suspect that you could have put those plants in the ground long ago (other, smarter people, will chime in). the mother's day rule applies mostly to hot weather annuals/vegetables.

Just what I wanted to hear! Thanks

The ipomoea will not like being planted out this soon. I can verify the weather has been atrocious this last week in Puyallup (I work there, although I live in Seattle). The other stuff should do okay. It is best to harden the plants off before planting out though. I have not had good luck planting my large containers early when I'm using summer annuals and tender perennials. I'm thinking of things like ipomoea, impatiens, heliotrope, marigolds, trailing helichrysum, geraniums, etc.

Obviously geraniums and other plants that are well hardened-off and established in their pots can take plenty of cold but those coming from the greenhouse and being put into larger pots with soil that may stay cold and wet act differently. Your microclimate will make a big difference also. Where I live in West Seattle we get a lot of cold wind and I don't benefit at all from early planting. C'est la vie.

Another consideration is exposure. I have an east-facing covered concrete front porch that I use to harden off my tomatoes, etc, and I also found I can winter over my mini roses in pots there instead of having to put them in the garage. Things in pots are safer there than if out in the open without cover, and perhaps also with another directional exposure.

Jim from the bean forum says he has planted out in the ground some of his runner beans, and they are doing well, so I'm about to try some of them outdoors.

Nancy

Thanks for all your input! I have been hardening them off for about a week - out on the west facing deck (where they will be planted) during the day and under the eaves on the same deck at night.