Random dots of trickery--

• Make sure the box is invisible from all angles. Walk around it. If you were a passerby, would you notice anything out of the ordinary, even if you were right on top of it?
• Have appropriate camo for the area. Basic woodland serves many purposes, but it doesn't work with sand at the beach or ice and snow at the South Pole.
• Small...teeny, tiny small. Hide the smallest container possible for the space.
• Watch out for areas with may have regular maintanence done. Boxes can easily be "landscaped out of existence" (not my term, but I like it).
• Plant a little way off the trail, in a spot indistinguishable from others like it. This requires more discription of what finders should be looking for, and a knowledge of local plants is helpful (I'm still working on the plant part).
• Identify the box as a letterbox on the outside. Sometimes muggles find it, are intrigued, and put it back. Also helpful if the authorities find it and think it's a bomb or something.

All I've got for now. Look at your local planters; you've got some great ones. What are they doing with clues or the box itself that keeps it in place?

Being Shielded

My best advice is: the best camo is a really good hidey hole.

Sometimes, because we want the plant to be in a particular area, we tend to 'force' the hide. I'm guilty of this as well. However, the boxes that tend to do best are the ones that people AREN"T going to luck up on. If they couldn't find it without clues, then it's in the right place. Of course, urban/suburban type planting has different issues than planting in a forest, and that has to be considered as well. Planting in an more human congested area takes me MUCH longer than planting out in the middle of nature some where. That is, in part, due to the fact that I try not to plant too close to congregation type areas (playgrounds, etc), but if I do plant near one, I make it off the beaten path a bit. And, it may take me an hour to find the right place that fits the size of the box to ensure it stays hidden.

I know these are really generic type things, but maybe it might give you some ideas on how to approach hiding a plant. Good luck!


Jenni P

In addition to what others have said, be wary of places that seem too good to be true. A rotting stump just out of sight of that playground may look perfect today and become something for bored 10 year olds to demolish tomorrow. Goodbye letterbox!

Wild Rose (of PBandJ)

Along the line of "too good to be true", consider, also, that the obvious place to hide something is just that: OBVIOUS. If YOU're poking around in that crevice, what's to stop a curious kid or cretin?

My initial tactic for finding a hidey hole is to look for a good spot that's off the trail a bit but still offers finders a view up and down the trail. I look for the obvious hidey hole, then look around there for the not-so-obvious spot.

EXAMPLE:

I've got a box that's "hidden in a hollow in a tree" (or something like that). The obvious spot is the 100+ ft-tall, 2.5 ft-diameter gutless tree that's directly ahead of you... but in reality, the box is tucked into a small hollow at the base of a scrawny little tree directly to your right.

StarSAELS

Thanks much to everyone for the great advice! I will use it tomorrow on national planting day. =)

Quote

Along the line of "too good to be true", consider, also, that the obvious place to hide something is just that: OBVIOUS. If YOU're poking around in that crevice, what's to stop a curious kid or cretin?

When I first started letterboxing, my ex-husband & I went to one in Portland on the top of Council Crest. The box was supposed to be in a tree in a hollow up too high to reach without stepping up first.

The thing is, this is a very public place — lots of cars, hikers (great view), but also a great spot for afterhours drinking, drug use, etc. etc.

Way too public and obvious a place — that tree was right on the main circle of lawn and brick viewpoint.

We joked that the box was probably found and tossed when someone wanted to stash their drugs there. We joked about what a bummer it would be to not realize directions to your drug stash are published online!

That was in 2002 and later I noticed the box was officially declared dead.

I liked your hiding spots for your mag birdies series. That brought me to a part of the park I had never been too.

Claudia

Thanks! We had been to Magnuson many times and had never explored that area either until we checked out the birding kit. But I've had two people say the box on the upper trail wasn't where I left it -- one said it had chew marks so maybe a raccoon or dog had found it. I hadn't thought so much about animals as people being a worry!

The last finder said he moved it back but if I get another report of it being out of place, I will just go and put it somewhere else! Thanks for the offer!