Fall-Winter are the best time to plant before spring growth in my opinion as long as the ground isn't frozen. At least that is what I have observed after several years at my house when I planted all sorts of things throughout the years. The only exception is the sudden extreme cold snap where you go from 80,90*F weather to below 20*F weather within few days causing damages to newly transplanted plants.

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.

"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

where are you???? i ruled out asia.. since its not in new england ... but NE is rather large diverse area ... big city name .... welcome to the forums ... first off.. just because you are cold... it matters not to the plants ... as gal noted.. they are well suited to your area ... also keep in mind.. you bought late season bargain plants from bigbox .... they may.. OR MAY NOT .... have trouble next year.. and odds are.. it will have nothing with what you just did ... so just stop having a heart attack about it all ... i suggest that you plant the rest... imo... they would have better odds in mother eaarth.. than in your breezeway ... cold hard winter winds are one of the worst problems ... and buried under snow.. migtht be the best you can do ... if you watered them in PROPERLY at planting.. a good deep soaking .... i simply dont know why they would need anymore water before next may or june ... there simply isnt any heat.. to make soil moisture evaporate.. so all more water will do.. is potentially drown them ... try not to love them to death ... and no fert this late in fall ... just get the job done.. give yourself a high five on the bargain ... and go relax... ken ps: just shove the little ones in anywhere.. you can permanently plant them in early spring .. no need for perfection .... right now ... a dead veg patch would be brilliant ...