I've never done it before so I thought I would pick the forums brains. The bulbs would come in the fall but preorders have been going on now.

I preorder fall bulbs.

A savings of 10% can be substantial. I even got 20% off for a January order. One can always add to an order or delete an item.

I usually try to do that. This year I think I'll get some of them from their pre-cooled list (B&B); hopefully to get something of a jump in/on time when forcing them over winter. I think that 10% about negates my usual shipping costs.

I buy that way from Old House Gardens and got some Blooming bulb items that way, but by mistake. I thought they would ship right now but no, will do in fall, I'm OK with that, just didn't read as thoroughly as I should have.

I usually order at the end of the season because the discount can be as much as 30 or more percent. I keep them in the unheated garage and plant them in the Spring. Most bloom later than normal about 3 weeks later than the ones in the ground from prior years.

I have done this for 20 yrs. for two reasons. \

First reason..... If I order in the Fall I usually do not get enough good days to go out and plant. Most years we have miserable weather Sept-Nov. We have rain every day, cold, then we go to snow. Very few years do we get nice crisp Fall days. So I ended up most years having to store the bulbs over the winter.

Second reason........they are way cheaper.

Wholesale suppliers like ADR Bulbs and Ednie are great pre-season sources, too, if you're either ordering in quantity or putting together a group buy. ADR has a "free freight" special most years for early orders, and they also have their entire catalog available (nothing "sold out" unless there's a crop failure in Holland).. after July, their inventory on most items is limited to what they have on hand in their stateside warehouse.

I wished I had done it at the time it was offered but I have stepped back and asked myself do you really want more allium that haven't done well for you? I lust for allium to return, or even show up the first time. Drumsticks are my most reliable.

I've been organizing spring and summer group buys for our local Mid-Atlantic forum gardeners... but I don't ship; repacking for pickup is as much as I want to handle. I've gotten spoiled with wholesale pricing, but I still get "special" bulbs from B&B or VE. For anybody interested in hosting a group bulb buy, I wrote a couple of articles over on DG with lots of tips. We have a "system" for packing orders that works really well.

I love using Longfieldgardens. They give good discounts for larger orders and often throw in bonus bulbs and always give free shipping. I have never ever been disappointed with anything I've gotten from them and they are a joy to work with. I've never done a group buy with them I just let people know I'm ordering from them and if they want to get in on my order that's fine, I'm usually ordering enough to get the free shipping anyway. Check them out, the first order is always something like 20% off the entire order.

Enjoy using ColorBlends part of Schippers, great bulbs very responsive customer service.