Did you have a colorful pinwheel when you were a kid? I did. It had the colors of the rainbow and I loved to take it out when a strong wind was blowing. And putting it in a window flower box made sure that I could watch it even when I was inside. I remember making one out of paper when I was little that held up pretty well. You just had to make sure that it did not rain, and very strong wind could tear it apart. It was a loved children’s toy then and is still today. But it has also gained popularity as a garden decoration. It gives your lawn borders, flower beds or vegetable beds some whimsical charm and can even repel birds that try to eat your plants and seeds.
This year I was looking for a duck repellant that keeps the many Muscovy ducks away from our front door patio and came across the little pinwheels. Many people suggested using the silver reflective pinwheels, as it scares the ducks away. Well, that partially works, and I bought in addition orange reflective ones for Halloween and red silver reflective ones for Christmas. You can read more of my experience using pinwheels as duck repellants right here.
The silver and orange ones have now been out front for a couple months and I have to say they are holding up pretty good. Not just up to the wind and rain but also being walked over by the huge ducks. All of them are still in one piece, did not tear apart or disassemble. They did not fade in the hot Florida sun and function perfectly.
Let’s talk about the silver reflective pinwheels. I bought them from Amazon. They are 7.31″W x 15.7″H and are very easy to assemble. You get one plastic pole, a little stick you use to attach the folded wings, a closure for the little stick that attaches to the pole and the windmill that consists of 6 wings. All you have to do is fold the wings in and put the stick through the holes, put the closure in the back and attach to the pole. They look cute and work quite well when there is enough wind blowing. You get 10 pinwheels for the price of $10.00, which is very good. And after 2 months in the ground, they still work and look nice and shiny. So, for me it was a good buy.
Now let’s look at the orange reflective pinwheels. These pinwheels are a little more elaborate. In addition to 2 pole pieces with a connecting piece and a pointed piece to stick in the ground, a stick, closure and windmill wings. They have a plastic button closure that holds the wings together and a little reflective flower that goes in the front of the windmill. The windmill itself also has more wings – 8 of them and you fold four and four. So, this windmill is a little fuller with 8 wings and turns much easier than the silver one. They can get a pretty high turning speed compared to the silver pinwheels too. Today we have very strong winds and I had to go out and hunt down 2 of the orange pinwheels as they started flying away. These pinwheels are 9.5″W x 10″H. You get 10 pinwheels for $16.00 which is also not bad, as they are fuller and just work better than the silver pinwheels. Being out in the front during rain, sun and wind for the last two months they are holding up very well. No fading of color, no tearing of the plastic. For me, a good buy and I already purchased another set to fill in the gaps between the pinwheels, so the ducks have a harder time to go through.
Now I also purchased the silver and red reflective pinwheels as Christmas decorations but have not put them up yet. They are constructed the same as the orange pinwheels with 2 poles with connecting piece and a pointed piece that goes in the ground, a stick, closure, button to attach the windmill wings, and a little flower. The windmill also has 8 wings, and the size is 9.5″W x 19.7″H. There are 20 pinwheels in one package and the price is $16.00.
I will add more information on how the pinwheels are holding up and performing in the coming weeks and months. And if you have used them let me know how you liked them in the comments.