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A number of Perennials have Tuberous Roots.  They have few to almost no hair or feeder roots.  Because of this, they don't 'root in' to a quart pot the way most Perennials do.  If they appear to be rooted in, it's because the tuberous roots have become twisted and scrunched!  They should be loosened when planted.  These plants, in general are meant to send their tuberous roots deep 'straight' down into the soil -- not around and around in a pot.

If you'll look at this photo of Acanthus 'New Zealand Gold' freshly dug from the garden -- it has almost no hair roots -- much like a carrot.  So you would not expect to find Acanthus 'rooted in' to a quart pot.  That would be foreign to it's nature.

Examples:  Acanthus, Asclepias tuberosa, Dictamnus (early on), Goodyeara

       Examples:  Alliums, Agapanthus, Arisaema, Begonias, Claytonia, Crocosmia, Cyclamen, Dicentra cucullaria, D. canadensis, Dierama, Erythronium, Gladiolus,  Mertensia, Trillium, Zephyranthes

     Examples: Ophiopogon (Dwarf Form), Mitchella,  Medeola,

Support the stem between your index and middle finger so your palm, fingers are supporting the top of the soil as you turn the plant over.  Remove the vertical (not leaning) pot near the already prepared planting hole, and gently turn the plant over into the hole.  There is generally enough compaction of soil, that even without roots, if done gently, the soil ball stays intact.  If it doesn't, no worries!  The plant has all the roots it needs -- just less roots the 'we' might think they need!  Just firm any loose soil that falls off around it and water well to remove any air pockets.

The above very young plant will eventually get a full pot of roots but just for photo purposes, we're showing it with almost no roots so you can see that even with no visible hair roots on the side, plants can be removed with the soil ball intact.  (We do this all the time to check on the progress of roots for shipping, so our staff can flip them over, pop them out and back without even thinking about it!)

Pot Bound Plants vs. Heavily Rooted -- There is widely divergent thoughts on this topic!  Our opinion, based on much experience, is this:  A heavily rooted Perennial or even shrub in a QUART pot is rarely a problem and lots of roots are often an asset.   A strongly rooted plant in a quart is MUCH different than a very strongly rooted plant in a 3-5 gallon pot.  If you would see plugs, they're often just packed with roots but are young and quite intent on growing roots and as soon as they go in a quart pot they take right off.  

Just loosen the roots some, so the plant knows it's free from the pot and plant.  Please don't assume that because a plant is heavily rooted that it's old and of poor quality -- Aster tataricus and it's dwarf from 'Jindai' are strongly, strongly rooted into quarts almost as soon as they start sending up their massive foliage BUT we've planted this plant in the ground when the pot was so full of roots it was bulged out of the pot and had almost no soil left and it just hit the ground growing. 

If you don't like heavy roots, may we suggest ordering in spring when that's less likely.  Waiting until Fall with quarts plants, you can expect that most will be strongly rooted.  It doesn't take long for a plant to root into a quart, and by Fall many have strong, strong roots and lots of them.  

Girdled Roots:  This on the other hand is bad.  When the pot (usually old shrubs in large containers) is so full of roots that they have started to grow around and around the pot, that's a girdled plant and that's not good.  Those roots do need to be untangled, unwound or, if not possible, cut.  But that happens with old plants that have been in a pot a long time.