I did my red maple in earlier in spring, trying to raise it. Mine was planted about 10-12" too deep, but I planted it myself, with the help of a hired hand in fall of 2015. BTW, I'm in Marlboro NJ, zone 7A. The tree in question was a beautiful October Glory maple. I was just aiming to get the top of the burlap bag an inch or 2 above the surrounding soil, not realizing until next spring, that I had made a mistake. It started out a beautiful 'rubrum' in spring, giving me hours of pleasure, as I just stood around it, sometimes nursing a drink. But as a very wet spring progressed, and the leaves were still not opening out fully, my mind raced to a number of things that could have gone wrong in the planting. I definitely had not cut the cage around it as thoroughly as I should have (damn thick guage wire, so hard to cut with pliers!). So, one very wet day, in a very very wet week, I started investigating, prying the dirt away, in an effort to find the wire cage. In the process I discovered that I could not see the root flare at all, instead the trunk was buried, and was discoloring and fraying from the surrounding soil and water. So I decided to raise it. I leaned on the tree, this way and that until it was moving on it's root ball. I shoveled dirt under the root ball, trying to work it in with my foot. Then I had a brainwave! I soaked the root ball and surrounding with water and waited. As the water drained down, the dirt mixed in the water found it's way to the bottom, while I was still wiggling it. It worked, the tree was slowly raised. And then I made the fatal mistake! I also saw roots that were growing from down on up. Now, with the tree raised, these roots were poking into the air. I started cutting them, some of them were big and juicy. I felt horrible, but could not stop! After I had raised and root pruned the tree to my aesthetic satisfaction, I covered it with dirt just so, and mulched and staked it. It looked really nice, with the frayed trunk, previously suffering the indignity of being buried, now finally breathing and recovering, or so I thought. I kept the tree well watered, even spritzing it a few times a day (deputizing my kids in the job as well). But the leaves started drooping. I increased the watering and spritzing, but to no avail. One by one, the leaves gradually turned brown, and then dropped. After a few weeks, in a frantic effort to save the tree, I cut back the branches a couple of inches from the terminal buds to encourage growth. But to no avail. Right now, it's late August, and a scratch test reveals a dead tree. No cambium, no phloem, no nothing! There are leaves growing from the base, but even those are drying up right now. So, I will definitely be replacing the tree. I have a question from this learned group, but I will first let this greek tragedy soak in first.

Consider oakleaf hydrangeas for 3-4 season interest - they do tend to be large, but they are much more interesting as plants than most other hydrangeas. They are also native to the southeast so are pretty much plant 'em and don't worry about 'em. Not native, but very pretty, are Chinese fringe, loropetalum, which are evergreen here. They come in green leaf, purple, and many which are kind of a combination of purple and green. They can be left shrubby or limbed up to a tree form. They get white or hot pink witch-hazel-like flowers in late winter/early spring - in fact, mine don't seem to know when they should flower and ofter flower on and off all year. They will grow quite tall on their own, but to my surprise, look well even when the leader is trimmed so they stay small. Not shrubs, but evergreen (or plum) and just beautiful, esp. in some shade, are the tiarellas and heucherellas which you can plant under shrubs. I love mine more every year. They have subtly variegated leaves which can be green and plum with silver, and they send up small delicate flowers on long stalks (coral bells). In fact, I have cut leaves for bouquests - they are stunning. Welcome. I haven't been around lately folks - busy with a million projects, but do hope to drop in now and then.

Now would be a great time. As long as the ground is not frozen at root level, you can plant most types of trees and shrubs. Mulching well now will help when the ground does freeze.

"And don't 'improve" the soil in the hole! Plant in the same soil you dug out." Agreed. "no tree.. ever.. needs water every day.. nor liberal amounts ..." It depends on how dry the conditions are and what type of soil is present. I planted an eastern redbud last year, and if I didn't water it everyday for about a month the leaves would start to wilt. This was because of a drought, but droughts do happen. The tree is now leafing out after blooming, so I must have done something correctly! "water .. when your finger.. inserted to 2 or 3 inches.. indicates the tree NEEDS IT ..." Yes, but as I pointed out, this COULD be every day. See link for simplified planting guide: ==>>>https://plumtreetrading.blogspot.com/2016/08/planting-potted-stock-trees-shrubs.html