I love a stand of tulips.

They are simple, yet bold.
They come in colors to match every mood.
They are simply delightful.

Planting them in Connecticut is painstaking task. (So. Many. Rocks.) But I didn’t care. I scrapped and perspired and dug those holes. I excitedly waited all winter.

The Crime

Those tulips didn’t disappoint. They bloomed in glorious reds and yellows. But I only had them a day or two. Around that third or fourth day, I bounded out the door to take my son to the bus, and stopped cold in my tracks. They were gone. Long green stalks were swaying in the breeze, looking like they’d been deftly swept with a samurai sword.

Decapitated by deer.

There was one sad, splayed ball of petals on the ground — a delicious morsel they’d abandoned. The color, the joy … was gone.

Tulip time transpires in years, not months. That was it. The fall digging, the winter waiting .. there are no second chances or reblooms with tulips. I wouldn’t be able to make this right until September.

And when the time came, I doubled down.

The Safe, but Stinky Solution

I bought a ton of bulbs, and this time I dug a trench. So much easier than individual holes! But before those precious bulbs were tucked in for the long winter’s night, they were getting a bath. … in something called Bobbex. The local ag supply store told us Bobbex would keep the deer away, by regularly spritzing the flower blooms with it. The bottle also said you could soak the bulbs before planting. I wasn’t taking any chances. Splish splash.

What is in Bobbex? Oh funny you should ask, because it smells NASTY! I don’t mean toxic/chemical nasty, I mean all-natural nasty! And nauseating! They kindly tell you exactly what’s in it on the label:

That’s right, cat food and peppermint. Garlic and fish meal. Urea. Pretty sure I learned in biology that’s a component of urine. But if it works, BRING IT ON. Just don’t get downwind of it!

And work, it did, for keeping deer from tulips. I don’t know if soaking the bulbs was enough in itself, because once the tulips bloomed, I sprayed every few days so those deer don’t get any ideas. Added bonus, it’s environmentally-friendly and doesn’t wash off when it rains!

If those flowers get cut off now, it’s MY choice! There you have it, the secret to keeping deer from tulips!

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