Good morning from the garden!

I think I’ve tempted fate.

Over the years I’ve voluntarily added a number of adorable rabbits to my garden.  This first one was a Goodwill find.

Unbelievable, right?  It’s rare to find such a nice concrete garden ornament at a thrift store.  And in fact, Goodwill had two of them that day and I bought them both.  I kept one, and sold one on.  I’ve yet to find another score as good as this one at a Goodwill.

I also have a 2nd concrete rabbit in my garden, and he was a garage sale find.

Isn’t he sweet?

I like to place both of the rabbits as though they are poking their heads up through the greenery in the garden.

I’ve also recently added another rabbit to the garden.

You could say that this was a Carriage House Sale find.  My friend Sue brought it to our sale and I snatched it up.  There was just something about it that really appealed to me.

I’ve hung him up on the outside of the potting shed above an old rake.

As much as I love these sweet faux rabbits, the real ones are starting to get on my nerves.

As you may remember, we lost our beloved cat Lucy a few months back.  It turns out that she was doing a pretty good job of keeping rabbits out of my garden (she was an indoor/outdoor cat).  In the end I think it was simply her very presence that kept them away, she certainly wasn’t up for chasing any rabbits in her later years.

Now that she’s gone, the rabbits seem to be celebrating by dining on any tender new plants that I put in.

So far I’ve found six plants that have been munched including a brand new sanguisorba that I recently planted (I put that green mesh around it after the fact, and as a temporary measure).

And here’s what’s left of one of my heucherella plants, but several more of this variety were also chomped on.

Apparently the cocoa bean mulch does nothing to deter rabbits.  As many of you have reminded me, cocoa bean mulch is toxic to dogs.  I should point out that many other things in my garden are toxic to dogs as well including Lily of the Valley, hydrangeas, daffodils and alliums.  So if you are a dog owner, you should always research anything you’re adding to your garden.  And you should also keep a close eye on your pets, especially if they are prone to chewing on things.

One way to deal with my rabbit problem would be to use a rabbit repellant like Liquid Fence.   I haven’t resorted to that quite yet because I hear that those sorts of products are really stinky, and I don’t necessarily want a stinky garden.  That being said, I may have to give one a try if my next solution doesn’t work out.

Which brings me to these wire mesh cloches that I purchased from Amazon.

I’m not sure I like the shiny black finish on them, although the color does sort of help them fade away in the garden.  I may give them another look down the road … perhaps a rusty finish using Dixie Belle’s Patina Paint?  We’ll see.  But for now I have to get them out in the garden a.s.a.p. to get those plants protected.

I purchased a set of six, so I guess that means I can save just six plants.  Right now the plants I’m covering are all short enough to fit under the cloches, and the heucherella will stay shorter.  But these cloches come apart, so if you have a taller plant you can remove that top section to allow the plant to pop through.

I’m wondering if once I cover these plants, will the rabbits just move on to other plants in my garden?  Only time will tell.

In the meantime, the plants are already bouncing back under their protective cloches.  Here is that sanguisorba after just a couple of days of protection.

Clearly I’m going to have to do some experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t going forward, but for now I’m happy with my rabbit proof cloches.  They seem to be keeping those wascally wabbits at bay.  I’ll be sure to report back at the end of summer on how they worked out.