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Question 10
The perennials in my garden keep getting eaten by rabbits before they even bloom. Is there anything I can do?
Rabbit browse can be a frustrating problem in the perennial garden. You may spend weeks watching your perennials grow in the spring, eagerly awaiting the time when they begin to bloom only to find that overnight a rabbit has eaten most or all of them. Cottontail rabbits are found in every county of Wisconsin and are most abundant in the southern part of our state. It has been estimated by the Wisconsin DNR that the state population of cottontail rabbits is around 5 million. Their abundance is not surprising, given the fact that cottontails can raise up to six litters in a year, each litter with an average of 6 bunnies.
Although rabbits have short lives (on the average less than one year) they can do a lot of damage in the home landscape because there is no season of the year when they are not feeding. In the spring and summer they eat green plants (vegetables and flowers). In fall and winter they browse on woody plants (trees and shrubs). They can seriously damage them by gnawing at the bark or chewing off branches, stems, and buds. During winter, the rabbits use the snow piled around shrubs to chew on the upper branches of plants. You may notice smaller shrubs clipped off at the snow height. With larger shrubs and trees their chewing can girdle the trunk.
Since the eating habits of rabbits are so erratic and unpredictable, there are no reliable rabbit-resistant plant lists. The only way to prevent rabbit damage to your landscape is to trap and relocate them, kill them, or install physical barriers to prevent them from getting to plants. Physical barriers for woody trees and shrubs are usually only necessary during late fall and winter, times of the year when other food sources are scarce.
For vulnerable perennials and shrubs, Bobbex-R is a spray product we recommend to control the damage caused by rabbits. It is a repellent that deters them both by taste and odor. It can be used year round and each application can last up to 2 months if applied correctly. When plants are in active growth, Bobbex-R should be reapplied more often in order to protect any new growth that emerges.
Chicken wire and hardware cloth are good barriers to use to keep rabbits away from multi-stemmed woody plants. The fencing should be about 2 feet high and placed around the base of the tree or shrub. Bury the base a few inches into the ground if possible.
For single-stemmed trees, plastic tree guards or tree wrap are wrapped around the lower 3 feet of young trees to prevent rabbits from gnawing at the tender young bark. Tree guards should not be allowed to remain on trees during the growing season, as they can provide a protected place for insects and disease.
Even though there are no reliably rabbit-resistant plant lists, we can say with some certainty that there are plants that rabbits are drawn to more than others. If you have any of the following “rabbit magnets” in your landscape, consider using the above techniques to protect your investments.
Plants likely to be damaged by rabbit browse:
Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus)
Fothergilla (Fothergilla spp.)
Itea (Itea spp.)
Summersweet (Clethra spp.)
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