Newly received young plants to plant out or not? (London)

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I just received my long-waited order for 9 plants. They are of 0.5l size. So fairly young. My originally plan was to plant them out straightaway, as I thought there's enough time to let them establish before the frost comes. But now when I look at all these little vulnerable young ones, I feel like falling back to my spring experience - started from pots and planted out when they were of good size (to handle snails/slugs).

But I don't have any space to overwinter them. If I have to, I would have to use a tray and leave them on the floor of our upstair bathroom which is very small and DH would not be happy.

Can someone share some insights on this subject? I'm only in my first year, hence still very nervous about everything.

What are they? can you post a photo of them? Would you be able to give them a little shelter outside - eg a food delivery box with a sheet of glass over the top to keep the wind/rain/slugs off them and keep them nice and warm?

If they’re hardy plants intended to be in the garden all the year round, they’ll be happier outside. Indoors, they’ll try to grow becuse of the warmth, but the won’t have enough light and will grow soft and leggy.

That said, they will appreciate not having competition from other plants, so leaving them in a sheltered place in their pots, and keeping an eye on them,may be the best plan

I’d plant them as it will give them a little time to get established before they go to sleep for the winter - but I’m a bit gung ho with plants. When you garden for a while, you realise you will lose some.

I’m in a similar situation and will be planting them out. I find that plants left in little pots over winter are more likely to die, but if planted now they might put on a little bit of growth and be better able to survive the winter.

Plenty of time for them to settle. It’s only early September.

what are they?

wrt frost, in london in a sheltered garden you might only have a couple of days of frost in january/february.
daylight is the factor most affecting plant growth in autumn and winter, depending on the plant.
tbh slugs/snails and squirrels are more likely to cause damage to young plants than cold.

They are :
Epimedium 'Amber Queen'
Acanthus spinosus
Anemone 'Ruffled Swan'
Hosta 'Big Daddy' (sieboldiana hybrid)
Trillium sessile
Lewisia cotyledon Sunset Group
Athyrium niponicum var. pictum 'Ursula's Red'
Campanula 'Sarastro'
Brunnera macrophylla 'Looking Glass'

Reading all the comments, I'm leaning to plant them out. I have some strulch straw and will just have to hope that would protect the young plants from slugs/snails for a while...

100% just bung em out. They are perennials.

Slugs arent going to eat anything on that list except the hosta.

So even if the slugs eat the hosta; the root stock will still be working away for a lot of winter getting its roots down and it will be up again next year.

They will be perfectly fine.l