Not hardening plants off in your part of the world: hellebore & foxglove

Fire

This may be too big a question, but here goes: In your locale, what would happen if you left a plant in a pot outside without hardening them off first. I'm not talking about seedlings or baby plants and I'm not talking about tender annuals like a tomato or something that hates cold.

Say, a well grown hellebore or a foxglove in a three litre pot has been in your house for a few weeks. The threat of frost has passed. What effect would you expect to see if you suddenly left these plants outside.

As we know, many of the options might apply and there is nuance that isn't covered by polling options. Yes, different plants respond in different ways to everything. Much like my questions about potting on, my main thrust is: have you experimented? Do you notice a great difference? Have you killed plants this way?

Fairygirl

other

Plants like that would never be undercover to start with, so I'm afraid it's pretty meaningless.

B3

Nowhere much inside so they start off outside and that's where they stay. Instinctively, I'd say that makes for a sturdier plant but what do I know?🙄

Pete.8

other

I don't grow hellebores from seed as they seem to do a fine job in the garden without my help.
Foxgloves - I sow them in seed trays covered with grit and leave outside until germinated in late Summer. Then pot them on and leave them outside. Depending on size they get planted out in late Autumn or early Spring.
Neither has any need for additional warmth around here.

TheGreenMan

other

I didn't think Hellebore would need mollycoddling.  I took mine from GC to garden; plonked them in; we had a hard frost the next morning and they looked petrified but are loving life now.

I've always left my purchases outside against the back of the house if I've not planted them straight away.  Not sure if that has stunted their growth in any way.

I guess you'd need to find two identical plants and treat them differently at the same time to know if it changes anything but are two plants ever that alike?

My head hurts....

Fairygirl

other

Even small plants /seedlings of those two plants would never need to be undercover.
I leave small [2 or 3 inch pots] examples outside all year round here. The most they'd get would be tucked against a wall, or in amongst other plants. 
The latter can be a problem if you forget they're there, so against a wall makes it easier to keep track of them.

TheGreenMan

other

Fairygirl said:

Even small plants /seedlings of those two plants would never need to be undercover.
I leave small [2 or 3 inch pots] examples outside all year round here. The most they'd get would be tucked against a wall, or in amongst other plants. 
The latter can be a problem if you forget they're there, so against a wall makes it easier to keep track of them.

I've left a verbena cutting (from last summer) outside against the french doors (north facing) and it's still growing

Dovefromabove

Hardy plants like those would never be indoors in the first place. That would do them far more harm than putting them outside against the house wall for the duration of the winter. 

GardenerSuze

I wouldn't expect to notice a difference if I hardened these kind of plants off or not

@Fire I would put these plants straight in the ground. As long as the ground is not frozen or waterlogged. Perennials like foxgloves grow all year round and prefer to be in the ground rather than a pot or Greenhouse.

GardenerSuze

I wouldn't expect to notice a difference if I hardened these kind of plants off or not

@Fire Foxgloves are biennial sorry, but yes would apply to perennials.

Fairygirl

other

The only exception [other than the ground] would be if you bought larger plants which had been grown undercover, but even then - a couple of days outside in reasonable conditions, and they'd be fine left out.