Repelling Hungry Rabbits

All of last week I noticed a daily reduction in my Spring flowers. At first I thought the ground Squirrels were back and feeding on whatever they could find. On Monday morning to my surprise however, I came face to face with the destroyer:  a Young Cottontail Rabbit. Half of my plants are gone. The little Rabbit ate most of the Gladiolus, Allium Drumstick, Heartleaf Ice Plant, some Freesia, Longiflorum-Asiatic Lily Birgi and Sparaxis.

Seeing how much damage the critter has caused in just a few minutes, I immediately wrapped the whole area with chicken wire. About thirty minutes later, I saw the young Rabbit around the plants; except this time, it couldn’t access them. Prior to exiting my property, it nibbled on a Gaura Lindheimeri seedling and attempted to eat the tender leaves of the Pendula Yucca young plants. A hungry Rabbit will eat just about anything, except highly aromatic plants such as Common Lilac, Rose Geranium, Lemon Verbena, Honeysuckle Azalea, Lavender, Marigold, Rosemary, Salvia, Sweet Mock-orange, Thyme, Myrtus, Choisya, Tulbaghia Violacea, Lantana, etc.

Yesterday while looking out my bedroom window, I saw a similar Rabbit by my kids Fairy Garden. This time however, it came into my yard with a much smaller Rabbit. As cute as they both looked, I knew it meant trouble for my plants as well as my sanity. My husband went into the backyard, chased them off our property and closed a gap between our fence and the neighbor, where the Rabbits were entering and exiting the property.

There haven’t been a Rabbit in sight today, just a couple of Squirrels attempting to make their way to the Sweet Almond Tree in the front yard. In summary it has been a beautiful day.