You order when you get the catalog and specify when to send the order.
Another alternative si to order from somewhere more northerly....not from somewhere in South Carolina.
Linda C

Linda's right - you need to spend those cold winter days browsing the catalogs and placing orders when you've decided what you'd like, even if it's January. The companies I use for mail-order plants let me specify when I want them delivered, right down to the precise week of shipping.

The challenge, of course, is in keeping good notes about what you ordered and why, and where you envisioned everything would go. Because come spring, those bright colors in the greenhouses beckon, and it's easy to forget that you have plants coming in the mail. :)

Yup. I certainly need to do design work. I already have perennial seed for next year and I'm anxious to order two reblooming lilacs. Did I mention I have zero design experience? Lol Oh and I'm getting gifted some purple irises tomorrow. No clue yet where to put them.