I don’t like hiding my plants behind chicken wire, but sometimes it’s the only way to win the rabbit battle.
Five giant-sized adult rabbits have been spending time in our yard most days for the last two months. In mid-June I saw the first baby rabbit (I’m surprised there weren’t dozens!). We don’t treat our lawn, so there were plenty of weeds for baby bunny to eat (or in this case some fallen hickory tree leaves):
But baby bunnies love to sample EVERYTHING, and it wasn’t long before any annual plants not safely tucked behind chicken wire became victims. This used to be a calendula (pot marigold) plant:
All four in that area were devoured until there was nothing left but sticks.
In the unprotected area next to our screen porch I’ve grown roses and lilies and tomatoes in the past. This year I decided to turn it into a little pollinator garden.
I planted perennials like lavender, false sunflower, asters, bee balm and prairie coneflowers.
I also added annual salvias, verbena and cosmos.
I even sprinkled in a few herbs like borage and hyssop that produce flowers that pollinators love.
I was surprised it took a whole week before the baby bunny found the pollinator garden. But thankfully he was more gentle with his “sampling” of those plants, and I noticed the damage before he’d reduced them to stems too.
I decided to get out the roll of chicken wire and surround this flowerbed as well.
It’s not attractive, but at least I’ll sleep a little better at night. And the pollinators should have plenty of flowers to visit this summer!