Oh dear! Oh DEER!

When we moved in we definitely needed a new mailbox. The old one had been sheared off at the base by a careless driver. The only thing salvageable was well… nothing. So we bought a new box and pole and “planted” the mailbox in a plastic planter with cement to hold it down. At first we planted flowers in the planter but they were not suitable…they needed to be cared for or at least given water every once in a while. So they died

I gave up on real flowers for a spell and went plastic. I had little vignettes for every season and holiday. In Fall I put out loads of silk football mums. Halloween was plastic carved pumpkins and plastic bones with dead branches. At Christmas I had fake holly and poinsettia and a plastic Santa statue. Easter things were easy to find and I would put out windmills when the wind picked up in the spring. Summer meant patriotic red white and blue fake flowers and flags. Of course we had silk bluebonnets during the Texas wildflower season.

There is a little boy who comes by every day on a walk with his dad. He always stops and admires the little vignettes and smells the “flowers”. This year he was joined by a little brother in a stroller. I feel that I have a responsibility for the new generation to have an interesting mailbox planter

This year when springtime came I wanted some real living plants. I needed plants that would grow well in a container, survive with little water and hot sun, and provide some curbside color.

I found the perfect plants. I had planted some Portulaca, or Moss Rose near my front door. I planted three of the plants in my mailbox planter and waited for them to fully bloom.

Yeah they were perfect- for deer dinner! .

They were so good the deer went on to munch on my Stella de Oro Day Lilly and the Plumbago I had set in the pots in the Asiatic Jasmine bed. They said deer resistant. Does that mean that the deer ate them but had to force themselves to enjoy them and come back for seconds?



We had planned to put in a bed of Day Lilies but when the plants cost $12 a pot I am loathe doing so.


What to do? I know ask the internet! The internet knows all

humane-ways-to-deer-proof-your-garden

This would be ideal but it’s kind of expensive

Spray away

I decided that I would try some deer repellant


This is the repellant spray that I mixed up until my Spray Away arrives

I used the crab and shrimp boil because it makes me sneeze every time I use it. People eat it so it should be okay for the deer, if they don’t rub their faces in it. It has capsicum, oil of bay, clove, black pepper, thyme and marjoram. The green stuff is dishwashing liquid. I mixed this in as a surfactant so that it would stay on the stems and leaves. Both of these and lots of in a spray bottle and shake to mix it up.

Nothing missing last night but my across the street neighbor had a deer snack attack. Maybe it worked and maybe the deer just bypassed me last night. I guess I just have to wait and see.



In the meantime I’m going to see what else I can plant instead of the Stella de Oro day Lilies. I bet they would have been pretty.