It seems that I am so late filling the flower boxes, but everything is running a little late this year. We even had another frost warning two weeks ago.
Flower boxes for weekend people are not that simple. When you are only in the country Friday night through late on Sunday and you do not have a person who waters your plants, you have to pick flowers that can handle the five-day dry spell. When my mother spent the summers with us, we always put impatiens in our boxes. They multiply quickly, you have wonderful colors all summer, and they have to be watered at regular intervals
But then we have another “enemy”. Our deer consider impatiens a delicacy now. During the night, they eat the flowers in two or more boxes. Over the years, as the deer have multiplied, this seems to have become true of so many of the other plants that the garden centers have professed to be deer resistant.
In the last couple of years, I have been planting begonias or petunias. I find, that they do much better on their own during the week. I give them a good soaking before I leave on Sundays and they look okay when I am back on Fridays.
They are also on better terms with the chipmunks. So far, they all survived the planting phase. Most important: the deer have ignored them so far as well.