This spring ,because of our unsolved bunny troubles, much of the plant list here in the Burrow is getting a serious look at to see what is worth protecting , what will be left to fend for itself, and what will be added to fill out the places where the damage is not only daily but devastating.

I am letting self seeders like ‘Husker Red’ penstemon and amaranth go crazy as they are filling many holes left by the critters, and to date remain untouched. In the fall I added lots of peony,iris, and fuzzy or  gray foliage plants,which also are ignored.

But , the new golden children  of the garden are the alliums. These easy to grow members of the onion family have the most interesting flowers on tall sticks raised high above the foliage. I planted ‘Purple sensation’ an early bloomer in many spaces and it has thrown out  cool purple flowers that are like small fireworks displays. I also grow a swirly  curly leaved variety , allium senescens , that blooms later .

Chives, also an allium, have been growing in the rock garden for 10 + years, adding a texture contrast to the iris, and never even get a nibble.

My newest trick, and one I am kind of proud of for its ingenuity , is to plant chives circling the new clematis plants. So far, so good. Up until now I have been placing plastic grow tubes over every vine, and removing them later on in some areas of the garden and leaving them all season long in the parts of the yard that border the rabbit entry areas. Plants in these few areas will get eaten constantly and to the ground .In one place after trying a great variety of things I have just decided to settle for mulch and garden art instead of plants as nothing is safe. (They have even taken to gnawing on large shrubs, biting off branches and leaing what they don’t finish on the ground.) But the chives and allium they leave alone. I am gald for now that the allium family has stepped up to help me out and hope it continues, these voracious eaters have challenged many a move  I made, eating lavender and other herbs, sprirea bushes to the ground, and even daylillies.

The  gallery that follow is all the rest of plants that are strutting their stuff on Garden Blooggers Bloom Day  hosted by May Dreams Gardens. The  list includes, lily of the valley, geums, alliums, jacobs ladder, various azeleas, the groundcover mosiacs out front with ajuga , moss phlox and dianthus spcs,cranberry bush viburnum, columbines , armeria, mossy rockfoil, catmint,Bloomerang and species lilac, verbena, honeysuckle ‘Major Wheeler’, the start of the bridal wreath spirea,and by the end of the week there will be many iris in full bloom too. Pictures are labeled (lazily) if you hover over them.