Almost all shrubs can be planted now, although in very cold parts of the country, some slightly tender types should wait until next spring. Take advice from your local garden centre. Remember to be generous with the planting hole: make it big and load it with well-rotted manure (in the lowest layer), nutritious compost and a sprinkle of bonemeal - if you can still get it. It's still not too late to plant bulbs, and large Dutch tulips are better planted now rather than earlier in the season. Plant them several inches deep and in bold, informal groupings. Don't put them where you've grown tulips before as diseases may linger in the soil and infect the new ones.