Yardening plans

Today I placed my seed orders. While doing so, I had to make a decision on the potatoes. At Seed Savers Exchange, they showed they had Carola (yay) but I would have had to call them to order it (boo). So I picked another variety that sounded similar (yay) but I would have had to call to order that as well (wth). So I selected one at Pinetree, Eva, that sounds delicious plus is a good keeper. So THAT task is completed.

Re the rest of the yard - *sigh*. I have lived in this house for about 20 years. Some plantings - the Crimson King maple tree, the burning bush, the old fashioned lilac, to name a few - have been here all along, but the rest has been my doing. And I want to undo a few things.

Number one on the list is the clematis growing on a trellis by the front porch. It is a perfectly fine clematis, BUT. The flower color is wrong, the flowering season is short, and without regular pruning, it turns into a giant tumbleweed very easily. My plan is to replace it with a clematis of the right color, with a long blooming season, and limited vertical growth: Clematis Niobe.

Then there is the bed on the south side of the house. Over the years I have planted pink this and pink that there, plus a little white and red. Now I want to clean it out. I am abandoning my original idea of filling it with drought-tolerant prairie plants in favor of edible landscaping in the form of blueberries. Specifically, Blueray blueberries. Besides providing fruit, the bushes turn scarlet in fall, so they will be pretty as well. I already have one Patriot blueberry, plan to get it a companion, then add a couple of Darrow along the back fence, and I should have blueberries all summer long. Eventually. BUT FIRST I am going to do something that is usually unheard of in my yard: prepare the soil before I buy the plants. So expect the planting to occur in the fall.

I have a few more ideas marinating in the back of my pea brain, like fruit trees and a cold frame, but I'm not committing to them at this time. We'll see how I feel once winter turns to spring.