Delayed planting of bare root plants

Hi!
I want to order some asparagus bare root plants, but it's January and I'm in Zone 7b.  There are freezing days ahead and we won't even start the general warm-up until March.

But if I wait too late to order, they will be sold out.

So, how long can I delay planting bare root asparagus?  I'm looking at some Jersey Giants on Amazon.

Thanks!
-Johntodd
Zone 7b, west Tennessee.

If the plants are fully dormant and your soil is not frozen you can plant them as soon as you get them.  You could also pot them up and put them in your garage shed or some place similar.  Better though would be to order from a garden catalogue where they will wait to ship them until the correct time of year.

As a follow-up:

The roots came bone dry.  The instructions said to gently wet them once a week until planting and keep them refridgerated.

The weather warmed, and I planted them March 25th.  They came up, and I got 48 out of 50 very hardy beautiful first-year asparagus.

Thanks!
-John