You could look into a Black Lace Zambucus. Those can die back each year but will still get quite large. Mine took about three years for it to hit its stride, and now it is beautiful every year. It can be pruned to a tree form. I think it was known as the Japanese maple of the north. Or you can also try to find a standard physocarpus which appear to be more readily available these days. If you want to stick with the dark or reddish/purple leaf colors.

its fall in my MI ... one on my JMs looks worse than that.. lol ... it will come back next spring.. at best... i would not expect much more now .... and actually ... i would prefer .... it not releaf this late in the year ... i probably would have put it another 2 or 3 feet from the house... you have given it no room for future growth ... [i am being an optimist ... lol ] you made the right decision on replanting .. and i presume you followed teh guide ... now all you have to decide.. is if you want to do it one more time.. lol .. all it needs.. is proper water.. its not hungry.. its stressed ... i wish you luck.. let us know how it works out ... ken ps: the best time to plant trees... is usually right after they lose their leaves ... its root growing season.. and its so much less stressful w/o the leaves ... just water properly ... so it really doesnt matter if you tree doesnt have leaves.. in fall ..

Not too close at all. And you're not going to have to worry about pruning for years.

That's a great question, Gary. Ideally, you would want to amend an area equal to the mature root spread. But it is nearly impossible to guess exactly what that may be - roots do not necessarily grow in a perfect circle and depending on soil conditions, they usually just keep extending over the life of the tree. And very often, that is just not a practical approach in an already established garden. If you feel you need to amend, do so over the largest area you can manage. And to avoid any 'bucket' or 'saucer' issues, dig a very wide but rather shallow planting hole and set the rootball high (above grade). Mound the backfill up to the top of the rootball but not over the top. Make sure the sides of the planting hole are very dished or sloped and roughed up (not smooth). Feeder root will penetrate into the indigenous soil. It is just that if you make the planting hole too rich and appealing by amending, the roots are less inclined to extend properly and you risk them circling around in the original hole rather than extending laterally as they should. Roughing up the sides of the hole helps with this.