I have tried for YEARS to no avail to grow tulips.  Each year starts with the promise of a bountiful cornucopia of delight and only to be disappointed year after year by them being devoured all the way down to the ground the second they start to flower. 

"What?! I'm just BROWSING!"

It’s as if these gorgeous flowers emit some sort of irresistible aroma that draws the deer in immediately and then they are gone.  Browsed down to the ground.  Never to return because bulbs need those greens to recharge for next years display and the deer never leave them that option.  I researched tirelessly on a way to keep the deer from eating these spring show stoppers.  The options were just absurd to me. 

1. Put cotton balls soaked in peppermint, that you need to replace every few weeks, among the plants the deer like to eat.
2. Shave bars of Irish spring soap and scatter around the plants.
3. Fill pantyhose with human hair (I mean, seriously?) and replace once a month.
4. Deer are skittish of new things, so installing motion detected lights, windmills, chimes and other garden items that move or make noise should prove to be effective at keeping the herbivores away.
5. Sprinklers on a timer for dawn and dusk, when the bandits are most likely to strike.
6. Providing sacrificial plants you are willing to have the deer eat.

All these options were just absurd to me.  I’m not going to be littering cotton balls in my garden or shaving soap bars that are going to leach chemicals into the ground.  Pantyhose filled with hair?!  I’m not even able to coherently process this one, just, no!  Setting up deer triggered booby traps is an investment I’m not willing to make and, in my book, there is no such thing as a plant I’m willing to sacrifice!  If I’ve gone through the effort of putting it in the ground I want to enjoy it and not to mention have drafted a peace treaty with the resident deer.  Agreeing they will only eat the plants you have deemed fit for their consumption. I highly doubt that they are going to readily submit to your will and acquiesce to your request. 

I felt as though I was going to have to resign myself to a garden deprived of the kaleidoscope like display of tulips.  So, when I stumbled upon another option I pounced on the chance to try it.  Apparently, deer don’t love plants with soft leaves or minty/herb fragrances (I’m guessing this is where the Irish Spring Soap and peppermint cotton balls were going).  They will avoid the following plants:

1. Catmint
2. Chives (garlic and onions)
3. Lavender
4. Mint
5. Sage
6. Thyme

Since I have a Catmint plant in my front garden right where there was a blank space just begging for some bulbs, I pounced on experimenting with this option.  I bought a small pack of 12 tulips, 6 pink and 6 red, from Aldi for $6.99; a reasonable price to pay for a potentially risky venture.  Last fall I planted them right in front of one of my Catmint plants in the front garden bed and I’ve watched them with trepidation ever since.  I felt confident they would be gobbled up just as they started to bloom.  Depriving me of even enjoying them for a spit second and certainly not allowing me any second chances for this venture.  Miraculously, 4 weeks after the tulips broke ground, and 1 week after they started flowering, they are still here!  Looking showy and beautiful!