I'm excited for you, Xiana! I wish I had experience in the situation you describe but I don't; I have planted a lot of peonies though and know they're pretty hardy. I think if it were me I'd plant them in something that could go straight into the ground at your mother's house. I've seen posts though where people said they kept roots in the crisper section in the fridge for 4 months or so with no damage to the roots, too. And the ones you buy at the big box stores are typically in those bags for several months and they manage to grow just fine most of the time. I think you'd be fine either was as long as you take care of the roots. If you plant them, make sure the soil drains well and that you protect it from freeze/thaw cycles. If you keep it unplanted in a cool place keep an eye on them to make sure they don't dry out too much or have any rot.

Fina is a very reputable grower, you might want to email their customer service and ask them what they suggest. Good luck!

I will share my experience. Last year, I purchased online a Bess Bockstoce peony very late in the season...it was a great deal, and I knew it would probably be too late too get it in the ground. Sure enough, the ground was frozen when it arrived so I knew I would have to wait until spring for planting. I put it in a very large container (as it was a big root) and stored it in the unheated garage. I watered it at planting and after that I did not water it much at all...maybe once a month at the most. Come spring, I planted it out and it proved to be the biggest growing of all the peonies I had purchased, even getting some buds, which for some reason did not open, but storing it in a container for 3 or 4 months worked for me.

Why don't you pot them up in flimsy 2 or 5 gallon pots? Then when you are able to plant them in late November, you can prepare their planting holes and then cut away the pots without disturbing their roots. In my climate, I can leave peonies in pots over the winter (protected from the rain) ready for planting in the spring. They do best in well drained soil, take full sun or light shade and soil that isn't too rich.

Excellent suggestions!! Thank you very much!

Watching this thread as we may be unexpectedly moving and I have a bunch of bare roots that just arrived, unsure what to do with them and we may not move til late in Nov. I thought about 'potting' into burlap sacks and just cutting holes in the burlap though it would biodegrade eventually anyway, and could just plant the entire thing in spring.

Speaking on the 'freeze/thaw/freeze'... is an unheated garage or barn enough protection from the 'freeze' in zone 6/7?