Rabbit Damage

 

This lily was still in the pot when the rabbits decided to decimate it. Luckily I found some fencing to put around it for the rest of the year. The flower buds are still at the top so I think we'll get some blooms out of it but I'm not sure how long I can protect it in the upcoming years.

Well, I discovered that using ground clove burns plant leaves. So don't use that to keep away bunnies. It also doesn't keep away bunnies. However, you can see in the background that I took this after installing new fencing. 

I planted a new succession of green beans about 3 days ago. I can see some of the bean seeds are sprouting so I'm hopeful we still get some green beans this year! 

These rabbits. They've actually taken down maybe 30 milkweed plants. I've truly decided to leave the milkweed until I don't see monarchs - then I'll pull the milkweed, weed out the invasives and the plants I don't want. So I have milkweed everywhere but there's also monarch eggs on the majority of it! I'm super excited about this. I thought they liked swamp milkweed more, so I didn't really give any thoughts about possibly having a bit of a milkweed and butterfly farm. Ha.

These Asiatic lilies have been eaten down a lot - but the bunnies can only reach a little bit of the group of plants because I have this area planted so close together. Also. there's Snow on the Mountain and I desperately need to weed this out. But also there's milkweed in this area and so I can't quite get in here without disturbing the eggs. It's not quite a win-win situation yet so I just need to keep an eye on all the potential butterflies. 

This lily is on my boulevard. The half of the stems that are next to the sidewalk have just been terrorized by the bunnies. 

This year I've learned that if you really want to save something and you're attached to plants - fence them. Don't risk trying a home remedy or the rain washing away a store-bought bunny mix. Sometimes with the rain in the middle of the night, you can't get out there fast enough and those bunnies will absolutely eat everything. 

This year I've seen at least 3 new bunnies that have survived the neighborhood cats, the hawks, the owls, the fox, and the coyote that live around us. I wish animals could read so I could put a sign up saying "PLEASE EAT FROM MY YARD." 

Next year my plan is to fully fence in a large portion of the backyard so I don't have to keep reaching over bunny fencing in my raised beds. I bought the raised beds thinking that it would deter bunnies and I was wrong. Instead I'm going to be researching the best way to fence in a small area, find an archway for a door, and figure out how high of a fence I'll need to keep the critters out. I will also start moving favorite flowers like my delphiniums, lilies, coneflowers, and hostas into the fenced area too. As a gardener we understand that we will have a certain amount of pest damage but I'm at the point where I'm no longer interested in being continuously disappointed every year and spending time and money on indoor grown plants (and veggies!) to then give them to the rabbits as food each spring. No, thank you. As long as I have the time, I'll share what I find here and I will update with pictures and plans too.