It was a couple of seasons back that I discovered "JA" and at that time I went overboard and planted at least 4 of various types in the fall (zone 5). All have flourished, having come just fine through now two winters.

I have had lots of success with 'Honorine Jobert' at our zone 6 cabin. I planted it in good, highly ammended clay soil with a half day of sun. It flourished on its own (except deer ate the flowers only). It does not, however, transplant well when I have tried to bring it down to Raleigh in late spring. I did transplant some last fall, but I kept it in a large container for a while to baby it along before putting it in the ground. Early spring, even February is recommended. My experience with this plant is that heat is more of a problem than cold, but a dormant transplant is best. There are underground tubers you can dig up in the winter.

I have heard that to transplant anemones it should be done in spring just as they break ground.

Of course it may be preferable to do a transplant of almost any perennial plant in the cooler spring/fall. But all I can relay to you is my personal anecdotal experiences with multiple JA. I have moved existing, established JA in the summer and fall and I have never lost one.

It can be quite tricky to establish Japanese anemones (but once they go.....) loads of water and definately a spring transplant. Be patient, they can take a good couple of years to build up a little colony (and then you will be giving them away forever after).

Perennials tend to be offered on a very seasonal basis here - spring blooming plants in spring, summer bloomers in late spring and early summer and fall bloomers in late summer and early fall. Growers don't have them available until those times and few retail outlets have the space to offer a full range of perennials at any given time in the first place. You could search for weeks and never see a Japanese anemone for sale around here until late July/beginning of August at the earliest.

Granted I live in a pretty mild zone but have grown and sold perennials in colder areas and have never had an issue with J. anemones not "taking" with fall planting. FWIW, one of the big advantages of fall planting with any type of hardy plant is that soil temperatures are slow to cool down so encourage root growth right up until very late in the season. Combined with the prevalence of fall rains and with a good mulch, no reason these plants should not be fine with fall planting.

True, Kevin - at one time, everything was sold as bare roots when the plants went into dormancy. Usually, garden centres will be selling plants already in bloom so, to some extent, the late summer perennials on sale will at least have established a root system within the pot so a transplant is no big deal.
However, watch out for the sneaky practice of putting bare roots into a container (when they are sold as containerised) rather than container grown. This practice is very prevalent in rose sales and has disconcerted many people, who, on up-ending the pot, find that the whole rootball disintegrates, leaving a sad little rootlet.

They'll be fine. JA's are not plants that you have to "baby". They will do poorly in drier soil, but other than that they are fairly tough, solid performers :o)

That has been my experience exactly mxk3.

So the consensus is that Fall is fine for planting new Japanese anemone plants but transplanting should be done in Spring only?

'mista' I think the most relevant posts re your inquiry are the last two ie these plants are nothing special re planting or transplanting. The past two years I have moved mine several times in the summer and all have done just fine. Just do it!

I have 'September Charm' already and just purchased 'Honorine Jobert,' probably the most famous one of all. I feel like I just can't not have it in my garden. I bought a gallon size so the roots are a little farther along than the quart size which should help it establish before frost with a late-September planting. But, it does appear from the previous posts that these are tough plants.

Agree they are tough. Love mine (Honorine Joubert also plus some bright pink ones that DH constantly weedwhacks and still they return and bloom beautifully). My guess is that yours will be fine-just keep them watered as you would anything until established.