Now that I have had ample time to assess my unfortunate rabbit situation, my gardening direction has become clear.

Here are the facts Jack:

A.) The rabbits love to death all the new green growth that pops out of the ground in spring. Anything that emerges green will be eaten to within a millimeter of it’s life , even if they would never touch it after it matures. Rolled hosta leaves waiting to unfurl, the first head poke of a clematis vine, the asparagus like tips of my lilies, all have fallen victim and many do not recover enough to grow and survive.

B.)They will leave vitually untouched any plant that emerges silver or burgandy like artemesia, peony, random clematis vines, etc. It is clearly a useful strategy on the plants part to avoid consumption by simple color confusion.

C. )It’s not easy being green

So I have adapted the way Iam planning and protecting my spring garden.

 I am covering all clematis vines with the grow tubes commercial tree growers use to protect saplings from animal damage. They are ug-ug-ugly , but are serving the purpose quite effectively

I am caging all plants who if they are nibbled upon emergence  can’t recover (like lily stalks)

I am spraying  a few others that seem to get hit hard, like asters, which if left unprotected will all be chewed voraciously and daily

I have kept careful track of what they will always eat, sometimes eat, and never eat and am only planting those species that fall in the “never” category in any new beds and as replacemensts for those poor babies who did not survive last year’s onslaught.

Under the “never eat” category falls peony, penstemon’husker red’,artemesia,ladies mantle (too fuzzy I think), huchera cultivars with any variation of purple/burgandy leaves,ajuga,lavendar (mostly but not always avoided), iris, hydrangea, stachys,rosa glauca, nepata, yarrow ‘coronation gold”,  many salvias, thymes and threadleaf coreposis.

So more and more the garden will change to adapt to our new rabbit reality, I sincerely hope they do not adapt to it and all of a sudden feel like burgandy is the ‘NEW’ green and silver is the tasty treat gold once was.

(just in case you think I am exaggerating..check out what they did to this azalea- chewing  as the snow cover piled up leaving only the very bottom and very top leaves, sadness for him and his kind as they were all similarly treated. renewal pruning after bloom is their only hope now)