call the seller and tell them your problem ask what they recommend ... tell them you will do your best.. but if they fail ... you expect replacement in spring ... i highly doubt.. your soil is frozen ... for me.. just south of ann arbor.... it usually happens in late dec or jan ... [of course... this isnt quite a normal fall ... lol] i would get out there.. and plant them ... HEAL THEM IN ... all in one spot .. its not nice enough out there to be worrying about proper placement etc .... but if you can.. go for it ... dig hole... insert.. return native soil ... and water them in ... unless you have clay .. then be careful about too much water ... in the alternative.. get to a high end nursery ... and either ask them to pot them for you ... or buy some media.. wet it.. and pot them up .... place them on the north side of the house.. no winter sun on the pots.. and when they freeze solid.. tip them over.. we dont want water to accumulate in the pots during freeze thaw cycles.. all the better if they get buried in snow ... that would keep them out of dessicating winter winds ... maybe even bury them yourself .... if all goes well.. plant them properly at ground/pot thaw... in late april or so ... WHILE DORMANT ... good luck ken

Thanks for the tip, Joe! I have to go to HD tomorrow for some weather stripping so I'll check out the selection. I'm not in N.Ca though, I'm in So. CA. but in an area with mild summer temps. Do you have any recs for what would do well in mostly 80 degree temps? I already have blueberries but was thinking of trying some raspberries, too. Diana

Thanks guys! I ended up potting everything up today because I am still not sure where I want them to end up, plus the ground refroze due to a crazy arctic blast this weekend. Hopefully they will be okay - I had them in my root cellar for the past couple of nights, thinking that would protect them from a hard freeze while still being cool and dark, and when I went to get them this morning the wet newspaper around their roots had frozen. Yikes! They're safely potted up now, though, so fingers crossed there's no problem.

@Ann-SoCalZ10b SunStZ22 - As for the milkweed, it looks like you don't have the right species to be good for monarchs in SoCal. There are different milkweeds native in different parts of the world, and as I understand it, eating non-native species is actively detrimental to the monarchs. (https://entomologytoday.org/2015/01/16/planting-the-wrong-kind-of-milkweed-may-harm-monarch-butterflies). Lots of people are unaware of this so they think they're helping the monarchs when they're actually not. Here is a good resource about California milkweeds: https://www.xerces.org/publications/identification-and-monitoring-guides/native-milkweeds-california-pollinator-plants. Several of them are quite beautiful. I recommend https://www.laspilitas.com/search?search_text=milkweed for more excellent info and to purchase.