I would say yes, it's too late. You want to give new stuff time to get roots developed before the frost hits and usually 4-6 weeks is a better time frame for this to happen. This is not to say you couldn't give it a try and hope for the best, but I personally would wait to shell out my $ till spring when there are better odds for survival

Hi,
I would like to disagree : )
It is about 6 weeks before the ground freezes, not before a frost. You can have a frost any time in the fall, sometimes even in Sept., but the ground won't freeze until late Dec. or Jan.
I have great success with fall planting. The shrub prices are great and generally you don't need to worry about watering much because the ground stays moist in the cooler temps.
Remy

I agree with Remy. I do alot of late fall planting. As long as the ground hasn't frozen shrubs do just fine providing they were healthy plants to begin with.

How about small trees ? I have a 2 gallon japanese maple that a friend just gave me - think it would be OK to plant this weekend ? It will certainly be well-mulched with falling leaves :-)

It's a great time to plant most trees, however some, like the JM much prefer a spring planting. But since your friend just gave it to you, you don't have a choice now, do you? I bet it will be fine, try mulching with wood chips which won't blow away like the leaves.

Thanks for the advice - I have some sweet peet still left over from summer, so I'll make sure the little tree has a good layer of mulch.
Was walking around my gardens with the friend who gave me the tree, scouting out a place to plant it - had to keep reminding her that it can grow to 15 feet :-) Found a spot that gets partial shade yet still has some elbow room, so hopefully that location will do well.