What won't rabbits eat?

As I was researching plants that rabbits are not likely to dine on, I imagined Elmer Fudd saying “those pesky wabbits are vewy, vewy sneaky”. They are sneaky sometimes, aren’t they? For an entire season, I have seen them sprawled out in the flower bed lounging in the shade of a particular plant, then all of the sudden that plant is entirely gone having been eaten back to the ground. Other times, they will have breakfast, lunch and dinner right in front of you. So what won’t they eat?

Well, in my experience they will eat just about anything if they are hungry enough and if there isn’t anything else more palatable around. There are, however, some plants that manage to escape those pesky rabbits’ appetite on a regular basis, especially once the plants mature.

People are always asking for rabbit resistant plants and if you look online there are such lists. This language of a plant resisting an animal is confusing to me and sounds like something I would have gotten nailed for in grad school. Would it look something like a Kung Fu dung beetle karate chopping a daisy and the daisy resisting it? Funny dung beetle video by BBC Earth. No daisies though, just dung beetles duking it out.

Moving on. I know for certain that the rabbits in my yard (and there are a lot of them) have zero interest in the following plants: catnip, catmint, oregano, rosemary, costmary, common daisy, salvia, veronica, day and Asiatic lilies, coneflowers, blanket flowers, black eyed Susan, tulsi, sunflowers, marigolds and yarrow. Now, who couldn’t make a beautiful garden from that list?

Being a nature lover, I do my best to cohabitate with most of the creatures on our property. But, when it comes to my vegetable garden, I don’t take any chances. There’s a reason Bugs Bunny is usually pictured with a carrot in hand. My vegetable garden is entirely enclosed with three foot high chicken wire attached to 4x4 landscape timbers at the bottom that are sunken into the ground.

Rutgers University shares some good information on rabbits and plants here: http://ifplantscouldtalk.rutgers.edu/planttalk/article.asp?ID=13. Interestingly, they suggest modifying your landscape to remove low lying branches and brush piles used by rabbits as protection and including small patches of clover giving the rabbits a more suitable food source. Feed them what you want them to eat and maybe they’ll leave your prized perennials alone? Clever indeed!

Don’t go out and buy a flat of coneflowers based on my experience alone. Experiment a little, one plant at a time, in your yard to see what your “wascally wabbits” will and won’t eat. Remember to protect all small plants in the beginning. And, go ahead and Google some of those rabbit resistant plant lists.

Kelley Rawlsky has an M.S. in horticulture and is the director of Bringing People and Plants Together, an organization dedicated to bringing horticulture education and therapy to the community. For more information: PeopleAndPlantsTogether@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook.

Article originally published in Broomfield Enterprise - July 2, 2017