PLANT THIS NOW! BRANCHING OUT

When the leaves start to fall, it’s prime time for planting trees and shrubs because their roots grow well in soil temperatures of about 10°C. These two options offer pretty fall colour and winter interest:

Black chokeberry

(Aronia melanocarpa) Dramatic purplish-black berries that last well into winter contrast with this shrub’s rust-hued autumn leaves. Chokeberry thrives in wet areas where other bushes struggle, and even stands up to salt near roadways.

Paperbark maple

(Acer griseum)

Aside from its fiery crimson leaves during the fall, this tree’s wow factor is curly, cinnamon-like bark for winter texture.

It’s also tough, growing in clay soils in zones 4 to 8.