The tubes as you call them are last years stems, with the tubers underneath, which is the part that goes in the ground, I wouldn,t plant them out yet, but if you have a heated greenhouse you can start them off in pots.

Thanks 4 the advice.

Hi Zarasteve, I see you have extended your question, but also asked as a seperate question, I would follow sbg,s advice for the geranium,s.
I ordered a new greenhouse last year, but delayed delivery until march, the only 12foot x8 I could find with na single door was at the greenhouse people, all the others had double doors, which is fine if you waqnt a 4foot wide path instead of two 3foot wide borders or staging, Iprefer to have wider borders, the only problem is that it is only about 4 foot high at the eaves, so I,m going to put it on 5 courses of brick to raise it up.