I bought some potted daylilies and siberian iris at the local nursery,
cheap. The flower bed is not really ready for them yet, but there's a bed
in the vegetable garden that's better soil anyway. Can I plant them in the
garden now, and then transplant them in the spring? Or do they need to
spend a year in the ground where I put them. I really need to get them
outta these nursery pots. I'm in zone 4.

They will do fine if you plant them now, and transplant them in the spring.
Both are among the most forgiving of plants.

Wendy
Sequim, WA (Zone 8)