You can set them out any time.

But it's really hard to dig/plant in super-saturated soil. If you can actually work your soil it should be OK. I think there would be a risk of compaction. I'd wait until late March / early April or at least wait until soil has dried a bit.

Thanks. Agree about the soil...tho OTOH it's quite possible it will never be particularly friable here in spring. Although the rainfall totals were impressively high, a lot of it ran off; I have never seen such heavy rainfall, in February, in my life. (A brook that runs nearby overflowed its banks onto a road for the first time in a few years) I think by Sunday afternoon the soil will have had 3 whole days to drain and dry out, so it should be ok. The clay soil here is more like the clays of SE PA and drains a little faster than those down in VA.

Personally, I'd wait another week for the BLEs. Cold and windy and they will not be happy campers. There also may be hardening off issues.

Annoying though it may be - I would take a week or so with a sack-barrow, shunting the plants in and out - outside in the day and back indoors at night - just to sort out the hardening off period. With tomatoes, this dance can go on for 6 weeks or so but things like Camellias would benefit (imo) from a more gradual transition but still only 2 weeks at most.