By Lois Scott, Master Gardener

The bunnies have been thick in my garden this summer.  We have seen wave after wave of adorable but hungry juvenile rabbits that have made the chipmunks look like garden angels!

According to Wikipedia the Eastern cottontail habitat “includes open grassy areas, clearings, and old fields supporting abundant green grasses and herbs, with shrubs in the area or edges for cover”.  This, including the neighbours’ property and the adjacent park describes the habitat around my home. 

This article by the Halton Master Gardeners describes two general strategies for protecting your plants from being eaten by rabbits and rabbit (and deer) resistant plants.  They suggest physical barriers and bad smell or taste:

Click to access deer-and-rabbit-resistant-plants.pdf

Hardware cloth (wire-based) is my go-to for plant protection.  I have it around young trees and shrubs year-round to protect them from winter browsing.  I have chosen to protect certain herbaceous plants in my garden by using hardware cloth and other more ‘creative’ barriers such as my ‘lashed together’ log cabin to protect a cylindrical liatris that the rabbits can’t get enough of.  If you are fencing a garden rather than a plant the fencing should be at least 2 feet high and sunk vertically into the ground at least eight inches.  Rabbits dig! 

This site https://www.torontowildlifecentre.com/wildlife-emergency-rescue-hotline/conflicts-with-wildlife/common-rabbit-problems/keep-rabbits-out-of-your-garden/  also recommends ‘scaring’ away rabbits by “placing unfamiliar visual stimuli around the yard such as shiny pinwheels, beach balls or foil balloons” or “mesh bags filled with pet fur or human hair hung at rabbit eye level” as long as there isn’t a rabbit nest close by as it may cause the mother to abandon the nest.  I think I may prefer the rabbits!

When it comes to what plants might be rabbit resistant, remember that these plants are only resistant, not foolproof.   I guarantee the rabbits haven’t read the list and when growing bunnies are hungry, they become less selective. 🙂

My garden is looking very full at this time of year so in spite of missing significant parts of certain plants the damage is not really noticeable when looking at the garden as a whole.  Rabbit populations go up and down so next year I may be wondering where all the bunnies are.