This week started with my wife saying ‘Colin, come and look at all the wee bunnies in the garden” and ended with me saying ‘if I see another rabbit in this garden…’.
So, this week I decided to give you a few ideas of plants that rabbits should steer clear of!
It is generally thought that rabbits don’t like plants that will hurt them physically and will avoid plants that are spikey, prickly or leathery! Examples of these are: berberis, pyracantha, fir and spruce trees, hollies and juniper.
They also avoid plants that smell strongly, mostly these will be herbs and vegetables like sage, thyme, mint, rosemary, lemon balm, peppers, tomatoes and onions. Some people grow onions around their cabbages to protect them from rabbits! They also avoid lavenders!
Rabbits also automatically seem to know the plants that are poisonous to them– milky sap, for instance, translates as poison to a rabbit! Examples of these are euphorbia and poppies. Other plants I know from customers experience that rabbits will avoid are; yucca, catmint, red hot pokers, foxgloves and astilbe.
Remember if you do have rabbits in your garden you will need to protect your pansies, violas and tulips. An old gardener once told me to look at the plants growing in the woods, “if they grow there then the rabbits don’t like them!”
Let me know plants that you think are rabbit resistant as it is the most common question I get asked at this time of year!
PLANT OF THE WEEK: ACER DISSECTUM VIRIDES ‘JAPANESE MAPLE’
Acers are wonderfully colourful throughout the year – in spring and summer they are green with early spring flowers, but in the autumn, they turn the most glorious shades of red. Reaching heights of one to two metres over 10 to 20 years, these beautiful plants like partial shade or full sun, but in a sheltered spot to keep them at their best.
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