By Muddyshoes
South Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Can anyone advise me about what plants to put into an area at a bowling club which is surrounded by dozens of rabbit holes. Hostas have been tried and "eaten". Any suggestions please.
- 26 Mar, 2011
Answers
I can't absolutely guarantee that rabbits definitely won't eat these, but in my experience they don't seem to touch astilbes, achillea, nepeta (catnip), lupins, lavender, thyme, euphorbia or ferns.
26 Mar, 2011
We used to have a pet rabbit that went absolutely mental for "weed" / wild achillea leaves. I've never tried the ornamental sort in the garden because of that.
I've had euphorbia eaten down to stumps over a weekend. See my picture here -
http://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/151289-euphorbia-amygdaloides/member/beattie
My thymes get nibbled a bit too.
Looking round the garden I'd add Vinca, rosemary, kaffir lilies and nerines to the "untouched" list. And wild primroses, but cultivated primulas and polyanthus get munched.
I've just uploaded some photos of my poor Heucheras. I'm trying out growing them under a dome of rabbit wire held down at the edges by stones as they get eaten.
http://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/194724-heuchera-the-rabbits-can-get-at-ring-of-fire/member/beattie
26 Mar, 2011
Thank you for all your responses. I will try some of these.
29 Mar, 2011
The RHS website has a page on rabbit resistant plants -
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=209
I find that some things on the list get eaten anyway - friends & I have had alliums, aquilegia, euphorbia, michaelmas daisies, rhubarb and echinops either nibbled or eaten to the ground for example.
Friends who also have LOTS of rabbits in their garden find that baby rabbits will try ANYTHING, sometimes spitting out what they don't like -which is no good to you either.
You could try hellbores, daffodils & tulips (though other things eat tulip bulbs), alchemilla, fuchsias, dahlias, verbena - and there are no guarantees that your bunnies won't experiment with those!
How about fencing off the area? That is the best way of growing things with rabbits around.
26 Mar, 2011