We suggest when planting your newly purchased Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry shrubs that you dig a hole twice as wide as the root system, but not deeper. Depending on the quality of your existing soil, you may need to add a locally sourced compost or topsoil to the back-fill soil. We do not recommend using straight topsoil or compost as a back-fill soil because more times than not, these products will retain entirely too much moisture and will cause the root system to rot. Adding compost or topsoil will help the young feeder roots of Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry Shrubs to spread through the loose, nutrient-rich soil much easier than if you used solely the existing soil. The most common cause of plant death after transplanting is planting the new plant too deep. That is why we do not recommend planting in a hole any deeper than the soil line of the plant in the pot. A good rule is that you should still be able to see the soil the plant was grown in after back-filling the hole.