it's about time

Hello! I can't believe it's been two months since I've posted. Not sure what the future holds for my blog. I haven't had much of a desire to keep up with it. It's so much easier to post on IG. If you don't already follow me there, please send me a follow request (my page is on private) at melaniescomfyhouse. 

I think May is my favorite month of the year. Spring finally and truly makes an appearance here. Planting begins, weddings, graduations and barbeques are in full swing, shorts and t-shirts come out of storage, dining al fresco becomes a thing again, windows are open for the beautiful cool breezes, and there's usually a nice mixture of sunshine and rain in May ~ without the extreme humidity that we get in the summer. Though this year, we've had more than enough rain this month. Lots of thunderstorms and even a tornado warning the other night.

I've made my annual trek to my two favorite garden centers and got my big pots planted. Of course, they'll look much better when they fill out. I did this same planting last year: begonias, rosemary and a trailing vine. By August, this should be huge and lush, with vines trailing down the sides of the planter.

This is my first time planting the colorful annual, mimulus ~ also known as monkey flower. The licorine plant vine is also new to me.

Another new-to-me annual that I fell in love with with I saw it: Iresine, or Blood Leaf. It's native to Brazil. Love the bold color and shape of the leaves. 

We don't have enough sun on our small piece of property to plant a veggie garden, so we plant a few things in pots: tomatoes, red onion, purple bell pepper.

My butterfly garden is mostly green right now; just the Columbine is in bloom.

If you're in the US, I hope you enjoyed your long holiday weekend. (Thank you to those who served and sacrificed their lives for our country.) We attended a retirement party; I spent time with friends; and another day we spent the day in Wisconsin. We discovered an amazing garden center (Bluemel's) with an attached coffee shop. I was in heaven! The dome is from an old high school.

Inside of the dome still has the high school kid's signatures.

The inside of the coffee shop is welcoming and charming, but best of all was the coffee. They serve Colectivo ~ one of my favorites. (I admit: I'm a coffee snob.) Colectivo is Milwaukee based, but they now have locations in the Chicago area. 

There's a huge, covered patio between the coffee shop and garden center, so we took our drinks and sat out on the patio for awhile. 

Then we took a walk around the garden center. These are some of the annuals and hanging baskets I admired...

I came home with this gorgeous hanging plant ~ Thunbergia. Love the vines and the delicate pink flowers.

After we were done at the garden center, we headed to the charming town of Cedarburg. Spent the rest of the day walking around and popping into various shops, having lunch at one of our favorite spots in this town, and basically just enjoying the perfectly beautiful day. 

Lastly, on a totally different subject: a kitty update! Remember Blanco, the feral? He's still around and comes most every day for food. Poor thing currently has beat-up ears. I have tried several times in the past couple of years to trap him for TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release), to no avail. And now the trap I have borrowed from a friend is defective. A cat can squeeze through an opening in the front of the cage. Not sure where I can buy a trap; perhaps a farm supply store. It's on my to-do list. By the way, I am not this close to Blanco in this photo. This is taken through the glass of my screen door. He still won't let me within at least six feet of him.

And my sweet Clementine...she is still unbelievably very much with us! She's around 15 years old now and in stage 4 kidney disease. She also has hyperthyroidism. When she was nine years old and first diagnosed with kidney disease, the vet told me she'd probably only live about another 1-1/2 years. And then in 2022 when she lost an upper fang, the vet dentist said that without surgery (all her other teeth are bad, too - very common in cats, especially as they age), she'd get a massive infection where the fang used to be and that she'd only live another few weeks to a few months. But the thing was, it'd be extremely risky for her to have the surgery, because her heart might've not been strong enough. Not to mention, they estimated the dental surgery would be about $3000. Welp...over two years later with no dental surgery, she's doing just fine.

For those of you still following me here and leaving comments and sending me emails, thank you for hanging in there with me. 💖

it's always something ~ but you gotta find the humor

Hard to believe that in my last post (May 21st), I said I had to turn the heat on. A few days ago, the weather slammed us with temps in the 90's. The humidity wasn't bad, so I actually enjoyed time outdoors in the morning, planting more flowers and cleaning the patio. The heat really pushed more plants into blooming, including the Columbine (the plants climbing the trellis)...

One day my peonies were mere buds...

and the next day they were full blooms! So amazing. This peony bush was just a little stick of a plant last year when my mom gave it to me, so I was thrilled that it's thriving and producing blooms this year.

Same with the clematis ~ one day just buds all over and the next day, tons of blooms. Both the clematis and peony bush are right outside my bedroom window, so when I opened my blinds in the morning, I was greeted by the sight of both these beauties. I had to do a double-take because I couldn't believe this could happen overnight.

Brian worked a long weekend, but had Monday off for Memorial Day. We decided to grill burgers and pork tenderloin for dinner. I was inside the house, prepping the side dishes and getting the condiments for the burgers set out. All of a sudden, there was a knock on the kitchen door, which is the side door on our house. I figured it was our next door neighbor. I opened the door, and there was Brian on his hands and knees! I yelled, "What happened?!" All I heard was something about bees, so I assumed he got stung. He said, "No, I ran from them! I have a bad Charley Horse in my leg!" I told him to walk it out and instead he sat down and was massaging his calf muscle. He got up and tried to walk and couldn't.

 We then knew it was more than just a Charley Horse. We ate dinner, I cleaned up, then went to a friend's house to borrow her crutches. The next morning, we went out to breakfast at the local greasy spoon, then it was on to the doctor. Brian has a pulled calf muscle - that much we had figured out. But it could be a tear. He's doing all the right things - icing and elevating. Now he needs to see an orthopedist.

And then today I was out running errands in the pouring rain and came home to find this:

That's our soffit and gutter on the north side of the house! No one was home at the time, so we can only assume it was the heavy rain that caused this damage. My neighbor across the street came over when he got home from work to make sure we knew and that we were OK. And my next door neighbor (the Nice One) called me to check on us, too. We put a call in to our home owner's insurance company and the adjuster is supposed to call us back tomorrow. I'm actually not that upset about it - except for my beautiful Weigela bushes. I'm just glad it wasn't on the other side of the house. That's where the patio furniture is, as well as a lot of plants and flowers. And our Nasty Neighbor's fence.

The Nice Neighbor joked that I could park my car under the overhang. I told him, heck, I was going to leave the damage as is so that our house would match the Nasty Neighbor's house. Nice Neighbor then replied that at least it would detract attention from his Weed Garden in his front yard. (He hates yard work and gardening.) Ah...if you can't joke around and laugh in these situations, you'd cry. I'll take the laughter.

a beautiful start to june

Happy June! We are having the most glorious weather here in northern Illinois. After a very rainy May, we've had nothing but sunshine and pleasant temps (OK, except for 90 degrees this past weekend) for well over a week. And this week looks to be the same up until the weekend, when again, temps are expected to be in the low 90's. Too soon for that kind of heat. Anyway, I've been spending a lot of time outdoors: Planting more flowers, weeding, trimming bushes, and finally enjoying the patio.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with Susan Branch - artist and author in the field of Home Arts. I have her small calendar hanging on my bulletin board and love turning the page to a new month just to see the pretty artwork.

 

Columbine thrives in the low humidity and gentle warmth. It's the first thing to bloom in my butterfly garden. Once the heat kicks up, this beautiful plant fades away.

We have a surprise amongst the lilies in the front ditch: Daisy Fleabane. I didn't know what it was until I happened to see it on Claudia's blog. It's a wildflower - most likely seeded by birds. Isn't it pretty?

A few weeks ago when we planted this poppy plant (front), we forgot to take into consideration that the Joe Pye Weed (foreground) grows like crazy and spreads. This is just the start to its growth - it gets over three feet tall. I'm going to have to dig some of this up and replant it elsewhere before it overtakes the poppy plant!

A recent visit to one of my favorite garden centers...

I came home with a candy corn vine and more flowers for one last large planter. I was really excited about the candy corn vine, as I was looking for a vine that would grow in partial sun for a trellis we have in front of the house. Plus, you can bring it indoors and over-winter it. I planted it in a pot in front of the trellis, so I can do just that once the cold weather arrives again.

I cleaned off the patio yesterday, washed the table and got it set up with the seating. It'll be so nice to have meals al fresco once again.

Indoors...

My sister gave me a huge jade plant. I looked all over for a large indoor plant pot that didn't weigh a ton and was halfway attractive. I finally found this pot at Walmart. It's resin, so lightweight. I have the plant in front of a south-facing window in the spare bedroom, so I hope it does well.

Lastly, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of my fur babies. Monkey (top) and Clementine look so peaceful sleeping in their cat tree, don't they? Monkey is such a big kitty (not fat - just tall and long) that he barely fits in his bed. He always has a leg or two hanging out. Clementine - my sweet little girl - is Monkey's mama. :-)

And speaking of sleeping kitties, where did I find Zippo the other night? Sleeping on the kitchen counter! He's never done that before, so I don't know why he chose that spot, all of a sudden. Oh well, at his age - 18 - I suppose it's easy to fall asleep just about anywhere.

Hope you have a beautiful week, filled with sunshine, flowers and just possibly, a cat nap or two. 

garden stroll ~ late may

Good thing we got a lot of gardening work done this week and that I took photos then, because now the rain (and heat and humidity) are here. 

This is the south side of my house with the path that leads to the patio. It's mostly shady due to the neighbor's overhanging trees, so perennials such as hostas, pachysandra and lilies do wonderfully as ground cover in this area with minimal work. We've never had to purchase hostas. They've all been divided transplants from neighbors and friends. I haven't spruced up the patio area yet except for some new cushions, so I'm not going to show you this area yet. I still need to re-spray paint the ottoman and side table and plant some more annuals in pots for the baker's rack.

Privacy fences are boring and ugly and I'm a bit limited in what I can do since it's our neighbor's fence, but I've hung a few things for visual interest. I found this planter at Home Depot and filled it with petunias, dianthus and ivy.

Parsley graces a tin butterfly planter.

On the north side of the house...remember this plain area that I was determined to spruce up this year? This is where Brian put a trellis and planted clematis for me for Mother's Day. Since this area gets a lot of sun, we decided to plant tomatoes and zinnias here, too. 

Brian dug out a rectangular area, we planted the tomatoes and zinnias, and then mulched. We obviously still have to add some kind of border. See the planter on the left with the bamboo in it? It's growing like a weed. I've read that people plant it as a "living fence" since it grows quickly and tall, but it's terribly invasive. It can take over an entire backyard! I'm glad we dug it out of the butterfly garden and put it in a container.

These weigela bushes have been on the north side of our house since we moved in 26 years ago - planted by the previous owners. They had a lot of dead area this spring so they needed pruning. Hopefully, they'll fill back in with new growth later this season. In the meantime, I'm loving the beautiful spring flowers on these bushes ~ and so are the bees! 

The flowers usually attract hummingbirds too, but I haven't seen any so far this spring.

Pots o' color in different areas around the yard...

I just made this planter yesterday. The big plant is a citronella plant, which is in the geranium family. I originally thought that it would help deter mosquitoes, but from what I've read, the plant itself does not deter the mosquitoes. You have to take some of the leaf, crush it and rub it on your skin. That's the deterrent. Oh well, I'm willing to try this because I don't want to use DEET on my skin unless absolutely necessary. (I've made homemade mosquitoes sprays from natural ingredients in the past and they haven't worked well.) Also, from reading about this plant, some web sites say it's a perennial and you can put it in the ground so that it will come back every year, and other places say you have to dig it up and bring it indoors for the winter. Maybe it matters what variety it is? Sheesh. I'll have to do more reading later.

I have my herbs in various places...

Basil - including a purple variety - went into this planter.

I'm keeping the salad greens, dill and cilantro in a more shady area on my front porch, though the heat is already taking a toll on the poor greens on the left.

A little herb garden in the back of the house has mint, lemon balm, chives, thyme and newly-planted tarragon.

Also, in the backyard, my lilac bush blooms are already dried up. They sure don't last long!

The only thing blooming in my butterfly garden right now is Columbine...

After last night's storm, the sun broke out for a few minutes and I immediately said to Brian, "I bet there's a rainbow." I went outside and sure enough, there it was. :-)

Have a wonderful weekend! 

For those of us in the US, it's Memorial Day weekend, with Monday being the actual holiday. We remember those men and women who died in active military service.