Mindy, it's very interesting that someone has incorporated this into a garden. In my experience, it's more of an annoying weed, usually along the edge of the woods, that hides and grabs you when you least expect, lol. It either hides in the spring, lowdown and inconspicuously, and tears at your ankles and calves as you walk, or worse, hides amongst the weeds and bites your hands when you pull a bunch of said weeds. Or, it grows to monstrous proportions and reaches out to snag your hair as you walk by, entangling you in it's vicious grip. Okay, I'm exaggerating - a touch! - but you get the idea. So I find it quite interesting to see it as part of a garden. Just goes to show I need to think outside the box more (to use an expression I don't care for much, but which really says it all!) :) Dee

Since Callery pears tend to be invasive and weak-wooded, I figured I would suggest some trees and shrubs that I have found to hold their color later than other plants and which you could plant as an alternative (in addition to the ones you have been given above). A couple of the native Viburnums, V. acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum) and V. lentago (nannyberry) both have pinkish-red leaves well into November. High bush blueberries have scarlet leaves that hang on almost as late as the Viburnums. Some of the Freeman maples (which are a hybrid of 2 native species) tend to hold their leaves later than any of the other maples in my area by several weeks, but since they are planted in parking lots and malls, I don't know the specific variety. Though these are a silver maple and red maple cross, they tend not to have the structural problems that plague silver maples. Red oaks can be variable in color, but if you choose your tree in the fall you can get a plant with stunning color. Ours range from gold to plain brown to bright rusty red, depending on the tree. American beech has stunning clear gold color and like the oaks are some of the last really large trees to change color. Hope this helps.

Don and Snowguy, I only know of one red oak in a neighbour's yard and it has always struggled with dieback. Though, with many plants having been grown from seed, hardiness will vary. I'd be inclined to give such a tree a try and place it within a protected area of my yard. Another challenge is our often cool Alberta summers, we often don't receive the heat units and thus borderline trees just don't properly ripen off before the deep freeze arrives ... then there's our extreme fluctuating winter temps! Snowguy, thank you for telling us about your climate, I can't help but be a bit envious of the lingering color you enjoy! Laurie, your Ohio buckeye is especially beautiful, mine had always turned an unattractive yellow brown color and then immediately dropped it's leaves ... though, just the same, this really is a beautiful and under used tree! I WISH I could find this particular variety. Here is a link that might be useful: Autumn Splendor Ohio buckeye

I'm planning to plant and transplant several shrubs this fall. I've got an overcrowded mixed border where I've already removed a winter honeysuckle and a crape myrtle - I did both too soon and they're really suffered in the heat. There are several more shrubs that need to move, including another lonicera fragrantissima and a sambucus. I'll also be planting after the October 1 SE-NE fall swap; either things I've dug that don't find new homes or (heaven help me) new plants I bring back from the swap. Pot-grown shrubs can go in any time, preferably while there's still time for them to get some roots into the native soil to keep them from heaving out of the ground in winter and spring. Transplants are a little trickier, since they need time to recover from damage to roots from the digging process. I don't fertilize at all at planting, and that's especially important with fall planting, I think. You don't want to encourage top growth when the plant should be getting ready for dormancy, hardening off its current season's growth. It gets cold in central MA earlier than it does here, so you may not have as long a fall planting window as we do on the Cape. If you haven't found your viburnum yet, I'd spend a couple of hours on the phone to track one down soon.