I don't see any reason to not buy now, if what you're looking at is being shipped bare roots it couldn't hurt to pot it and bring it inside if it gets too cold.

Whatever nurseries have locally may be field grown and over a year old and I wouldn't worry too much about putting locally grown trees in pots into the ground.

Some nurseries will only ship certain species if the tree is dormant like persimmons.

What do you have locally? What else are you looking to get? If local nurseries sell mango that's your best bet for cool / cold tolerance. It's probably a good idea to google the cold tolerant cultivars.

Some other fruit ideas for you may be pineapple guava, lychee, peach, persimmon, and mulberry.

My Glenn is in the ground ~3 years and this is his first season blooming. It's ~12' tall and wide and I'm going to keep it around that size.

This site claims the Glenn can tolerate some pretty cool temps, See:

http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/Glenn-Mango-Tree.htm

nothing local here sells Mango trees
im in New Orleans, and besides citrus,
they dont sell much,
loquat, peach, pear, plum, blackberry
and thats about it.
I wa going to get the plants shipped from Florida
(Pine Island Nursery)
they have a good selection, and i bough from them before.

Glenn is on the top of my list
along with Nam Doc Mei

Ive already got mulberry, guava, lychee and pineapple
also have papaya, black sapote, jackfruit, loquat
lots of other stuff, but im trying to fill my yard with edibles.

thanks
Brad

Hey Brad! I feel your pain.. everything I love to buy from the grocery store, I want in my backyard at my fingertips.. *especially mango. I ordered mine online too, and one or two of the online nurseries will hold the shipment if the weather is forecast to drop below a certain temp that week, but other than that they'll ship them. They also usually only ship out on Mondays so that your tree doesnt run the risk of getting held up at a shipping facility and left to sit in a corner all weekend.

As for planting in the ground, it's your call but I've definitely had a night or two this winter where I regretted it and wished I had the luxury of bringing in my outside babies. My Pickering and Maha are safely potted indoors and I'd plan to pot the LZ and Coconut Cream, and transplant in the spring. We've had such a nice & mild winter so far so I went ahead and stuck them in the ground. I wish I would've waited for spring to give them a chance to acclimate. Since then, we've had a couple of nights of high 29s to low 30s. Along with keeping them covered on these nights, I think I'm getting very lucky with their microclimate because they're doing very well - to the point of flushing new growth despite the colder temps right now.

Not saying it's a bad idea and that your trees won't be just fine.. just saying it's a gamble. And that you might regret putting yourself through the anxiety and losing sleep from worrying on those few cold nights!

I called Pine Island nursery yesterday and spoke with them
i had bought from them before.
I told them i lived in New Orleans, they didnt seem to think it wold be a problem
but, they dont start shipping for another 5-6 weeks from now
i can wait that long.
when i get them, i will hold on for another 2 weeks,, that should get me out of hard-freeze territory.

i looked at some of thier inventory, and i am going with banana, grumichama, strawberry tree (mutinga),
and Chilean Guuava.
The grumichama is the only one that i am really worried about.
plus, i will be getting blackberry and blueberry plants from another vendor.
Those should ship now with no problem.

that should keep me occupied for a while.

i have several mango seeds i sprouted about 6 to 10 inches tall.
also, a Florigon thats about 3ft tall
it will take longer, but i can experiment with these against the cold for now.
no sense killing plants i just bought.

How big are the ones you put in ground ?