Salman, Can I ask where in Toronto you are located? It would help me narrow down what kinds of zonal needs you will require. There are several microclimates in the GTA. I'm very excited for you and I'm reminded of my own excitement and I started to garden a couple of decades ago. Anyway here are my 'modus operandi' when it comes to trying to figure out if the day will work for planting. When the weather is very harsh - don't plant. Very hot sun, dry weather - not a good time to do any planting. Don't do any planting between 12 - 3:00 p.m. when the sun is above and the temps are close to 30s. In fact if worse comes to worse and I have to do any form of planting in such an environment, I would water the plant well, plant it either early morning or evening (when the sun is gentle) - and I would put up a shade cloth/netting over the plant. I would also top mulch to help keep moisture levels even. And once planted, continue to water well until the plants are established. So right now, we are still just beginning to get heated up. It probably is still good to do some planting but keep in mind the weather which has been erratic. The best kind of time do to any planting is when the sky is overcast. Prepare your grounds before planting. So break up the soil, add your compost (NO CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS YET. IN FACT NO FERTILIZING WHEN THE SUN IS HARSH, HENCE TRY TO SKIP ANY FERTILIZING DURING WORSE OF THE SUMMER) royal purple smokebush - SUNNY LOCATION summer snowflake (viburnum) - SUNNY LOCATION. It tends to be sensitive to mildew so keep it in areas that have a good airflow. french lilac - SUNNY LOCATION. dappled willow - Willows are aggressive plants and some can be rather huge and invasive. But this is something that I suspect is the Hakuro Nikishi willow which is small and fairly well behave. You'd need to prune it back each year to keep it small. Willows love good watering. bleeding hearts (dicentra formosa) - wet shade planting. Probably of all the plants you listed down this one that is sensitive to any harsh sun. pink lilly of the valley - wet shade garden. Same as the bleeding heart. anyway, like the bleeding hearts, these grow from the roots up every year so the idea is to keep the roots healthy despite if the foliage starts look bad. serviceberry -- you can still put this in the ground if you follow the above. bowman's root - sorry, I'm not familar with this plant. green and white euonymus - sun and partshade garden. same as the other shrubs. For me, if I cannot stand being outside in the heat, it's probably not too good for new plants to be put in the ground yet. If it's too harsh, set them aside in their pots and wait till the weather improves. -- say by end of August or early Sept.

Thank you, Marcia, Ginny and Shazam! This is great. I will take advantage of the sales and clearance going on right now and start planting away this weekend then! Thanks!!!

Well around here September is our driest month on average, so if you've got new plantings it's a good idea to keep watering them. I'm not sure of the rationale on drying them to let them go dormant, because the shorter days and night time frosts will do that for you. I know it's not good to let shrubs and perennials freeze in saturated ground but in my experience I lose more (I'm thinking of roses here) if the ground is too dry.

Well, I work for a landscape company, and have to deal with this concern every fall. Typically, we do plant shade trees, ornamental trees, and deciduous shrubs right up until the ground freezes. Certainly it is better to give them time to establish a root system, but we have had pretty good luck with this practice. I would NOT plant evergreens this late in the season. The last date for evergreens is Oct. 15th. They simply do not take well to late fall planting. Perennials should be in the ground by now. Another poster was right in that without an established root system, frost heaving will occur. This raises the plant out of the ground and will often kill the plant if not rectified. They key thing I stress to folks is to make sure plants get adequate water. So many people think because the temps are cooler that they don't have to water. This is a big reason why a lot of plants don't survive the winter. Please water!