While fall is an excellent time to plant, unfortunately it seldom offers the best tree selections. And that's just a factor of how and when these trees are harvested by the grower and made available to the retailer, which is typically in late winter/early spring. So by this time of the season, one is looking at rather picked over merchandise, irrespective of being located at a box store or nursery/garden center.

If there is something in the current selection that appeals to you both with looks and price - the Bloodgood looks fine to me - then by all means go ahead and purchase and plant now. If you want a wider selection with more variation, then wait until the fresh stock comes in in spring. Spring is a perfectly reasonable planting time as well.

Yeah....Nurseries around here are pretty pathetic this time of year as well...

Check out this tree that they are labeling a fireglow...ehh...hope that's not a fireglow, lol

Could be I guess..

I'm antsy to get the project done now, but I also don't want to settle! There's one more local place I've saved for last, but it tends to be $$$$ (but the quality and selection is always top notch). Maybe they'll surprise me with a nice looking maple that doesn't cost my arm.

I'd def shell out a few extra bucks for a high quality specimen. Considering the tree will be (hopefully) there for decades, it's a small sacrifice to make!

Exactly - it's worth the effort and expense to hunt down and maybe pay a bit of a premium for just the right tree. These are investments, after all :-)

So I went to the other garden center, and their selection was a-ma-zing. My favorite was probably this 15 gal Fireglow. It was also the most expensive at $375 *cries*. They had some very lovely maples.

They also had a neat paperbark maple, which I'm now considering. Too cool.

Ooh...I like the paperbark.

I wouldn't buy at $100 Home Depot tree at this time of year. Not for a featured spot. It's been abused and half-watered all summer, is likely rootbound, and has a chance of either all-out dying or being so haggard next year that you'll just be cutting it to the ground for a sad little bonsai.

End-of-season Home Depot trees can be fun experiments or (sometimes) a nice surprise, but I wouldn't give them a primo spot in my yard.

I'm glad you found some good ones! If all else fails, you could always order online. You can get a good-sized tree online for $100. It won't be gigantic, but it will be healthy and ready go grow.