If you don’t reckon they’ll get enough time for root growth, you can sow them in pots . Keep them cool (<50F) , but not frozen levelheaded , until the roots start to poke through . Then you can place them out , or where they are cold ( no higher than 34F) .

You just need a spot where the outside of the pots aren’t exposed to the weather, and can be covered . Dig a hole now, just huge enough, make a small enclosure of clinker blocks, or place them against a wall . Then cover with a sheet of plastic, then snow,&/or hay,&/ or evergreen branches .Sow them out in the spring , or keep them in the pots , until they are done , just like any other flowers , then sow . One advantages of this , is you can bring some in, if you want a midwinter pick-me-up. ( Probably from early March onward) .

Congratulations . You ‘ve just learned how to force them . In the future , if you want to, start them this way, in mid Oct , leaving them out, uncovered, ’til late Nov./early Dec.

Keeping them in the refrigerator is an option if you can’t sow them because of snow, but you can’t keep them in there with apples or other fruits as the ripening fruit puts off an ethane gas that will kill the flower buds. If you have another place where they can be kept cold but don’t freeze, that is also an option until you can get them in the ground.

They need a cold period of about 8-12 weeks in order to bloom, so planting them in pots that you keep in the house is not a excellent thought. Putting them outdoors is not either, if they are not protected by the ground, and are just in pots, chances are they will freeze., regardless of the fact that they are winter hardy.