Made with Xara
© Garden Cottage Nursery, 2011
Rabbits & hares are very effective plant destroying machines, not merely eating enough to get-by, their insatiable appetite for new things &
destruction causes much damage throughout the garden.
Speculative chewing of nearly everything to find what tastes best, the uprooting of new plants, the stripping of bark from trees, and of
course digging holes in your lawn for you to turn your ankle in, all make rabbits many gardener’s most hated enemy.
So what can be done?
You could find a good recipe for rabbit stew, get an air rifle or ferret & go on a spree, though as everyone knows nothing breeds quite like
rabbits & in most locations new bunnies will soon move in to replace the killed ones.
The best long-term answer to a rabbit problem is to protect your garden as best as is practicable by fencing.
Erecting a rabbit-proof fence is a time consuming process & hard work
involving a lot of digging, but it is still the best way to protect your
garden where total rabbit eradication is not an option.
A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link and a rabbit-proof fence is
not rabbit-proof if it does not entirely surround the garden. Rabbits are
small, flexible & wily creatures just waiting to exploit any chink, so
check the fence regularly & patch holes.
Rabbits & especially hares are accomplished jumpers so any fence
should be 4’-5’ (120-150cm) high above ground, of a galvanised
hexagonal mesh with gaps of not more than 1” (25mm) in diameter.
The tricky & time consuming bit is the digging down to sink the bottom
1’ (30cm) of the fence into the ground, bending the lower 6” (15cm)
outwards to discourage them burrowing into your green & pleasant
land. The posts need not be as stout or as deeply driven as a stock or
deer fence, but you still don’t want it to fall over! Round 2” (5cm) posts
at 7-10’ (2-3m) spacing should do, though thicker post will last longer.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Watership Down
Where fencing & eradication is not a practical option one must learn to live with the rabbits & to garden with them in mind.
Flower beds may be somewhat protected by small enclosures of fencing.
For individual trees tree guards may be used, these are available in several designs, all ugly. They form a cylinder of mesh or solid plastic
around the trunk to keep the rabbits & hares out, other designs work by wrapping a stiff self-expanding spiral of plastic around the trunk of
your young tree to prevent ring barking.
There is probably no such thing as a truly rabbit-proof plant, they will usually try something before deciding they don’t like it. Hares are
particularly selective eaters & by careful avoidance of planting rabbit fodder & sticking to that which is poisonous or unpalatable something
resembling a garden can emerge.
Where a rabbit visitation is an occasional rather than frequent event using a good number of rabbit-resistant plants in the most accessible
areas of the garden may well be more sensible than spending lots of time & money on a fence.
We have come across many lists of so-called rabbit & deer-proof plants in our time & for nearly every plant on those lists someone has told
us how the rabbits, hares, sheep or deer always make a bee-line for it. Still there are plants that are definitely preferred over others,
different populations are reputed to have different tastes so what works in some places may not be so effective elsewhere. Some of these
resistant plants are toxic to humans too, so parents & grandparents with little people running around might also wish to avoid them.
Below is a fairly long list of the plants less likely to be bothered by rabbits and other grazers, all will generally grow well in Wester Ross,
though some will want some shelter from salt winds.
Members of the iris family, Iridaceae, are pretty much disliked by everything, so irises themselves, Crocosmia & Libertia are worth a go,
many of the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae are poisonous or inedible so try Aconite, Anemone or Clematis.
Poor Peter Rabbit is unable to get under the buried
galvanised chicken wire to the flowers beyond
In the late 1950s (well before
James Taylor sung ‘Bright
Eyes’) it was your patriotic
duty to kill as many rabbits
as possible as they harmed
agricultural production.
Acanthus
Aconitum (monkshood)
Agapanthus
Ajuga reptans (bugle)
Alchemilla mollis (lady’s mantle, a pest in itself)
Allium (onions, leeks, garlic, etc.)
Alstroemeria (A. aurea is a vigorous spreader)
Anaphalis
Anemone hupehensis & A. × hybrida (these are the lovely late flowering Japanese anemones)
Antirrhinum (snapdragons)
Aquilegia (columbines)
Aster
Astilbe
Bergenia
Brunnera macrophylla
Chionodoxa
Colchicum (crocus)
Convallaria majalis (lily-of-the-valley)
Crocosmia (Montbretias)
Cyclamen
Cynaria (cardoon or globe artichoke)
Dicentra
Digitalis (foxgloves)
Doronicum
Echinops (globe thistles)
Epimedium
Eryngium agavifolium
Erythronium
Eupatorium
Euphorbia (spurges)
Fritillaria
Galanthus nivalis (snowdrops)
Gentiana asclepiadea (willow gentian)
Geranium sanguineum
Helleborus
Hemerocallis (day-lilies)
Heuchera
Hyacinthoides non-scripta (bluebells)
Iris
Kniphofia (red hot pokers)
Lamium
Leucojum
Lysimachia clethroides (goosefoot, a spreader)
Macleaya cordata (plume poppy)
Malva moschata (mallow)
Mentha (mints)
Muscari (grape hyacinth)
Myosotis (forget-me-nots)
Narcissus (daffs)
Nepeta × faassenii
Origanum vulgare (marjoram)
Paeonia
Papaver somniferum (opium poppy)
Penstemon
Persicaria
Phormium tenax (New Zealand flax)
Polemonium (Jacob’s ladder)
Polygonatum × hybridum
Primula
Pulmonaria
Romneya coulteri
Salvia
Saxifraga × urbium (London pride)
Schizostylis coccinea
Sedum
Stachys byzantina (lamb’s lugs)
Tradescantia
Trillium grandiflorum
Trollius (globe flower)
Tulipa (tulips)
Verbascum thapsi
Verbena
Viola odorata
Zantedeschia (calla / arum lily)
Rabbits dislike ferns.
A list of non-woody rabbit resistant plants:
Trees & shrubs that rabbits generally will avoid:
Alnus (alder)
Araucaria araucana (monkey puzzle)
Arbutus (strawberry trees)
Aucuba japonica (spotted laurel)
Berberis
Betula (birch trees)
Buddleja
Callistemon (bottle brush)
Ceanothus
Cistus
Clematis
Cordyline (cabbage tree)
Cornus (dogwoods)
Cytisus (brooms)
Elaeagnus (deer appear to like these though)
Escallonia
Eucalyptus
Euonymus
Fatsia japonica
Fuchsia
Gaultheria mucronata (Pernettya)
Hippophae rhamnoides (sea buckthorn)
Hydrangea
Hypericum calycinum (rose of Sharon)
Laburnum
Laurus nobilis (bay tree)
Lavatera
Ligustrum ovalifolium (privet)
Lonicera (honeysuckle)
Olearia
Pieris
Pinus nigra (black pine)
Rhododendron (including Azaleas)
Ribes (flowering currents)
Rosmarinus officinalis
Sambucus species (elder)
Solanum
Teucrium fruticans
Vaccinium
Vinca (periwinkle)
Weigela
If you have a rabbit problem please let us know what has done well and what has become dish of the day for Bugs Bunny.
Our nursery sits with two inches of peat over 1 billion year old bedrock so we don’t have to worry about rabbits ourselves, though we have
to be constantly vigilant of marauding deer, sheep & cows!
© Garden Cottage Nursery, 2011
Rabbits & hares are very effective plant destroying machines, not merely eating enough to get-by, their insatiable appetite for new things &
destruction causes much damage throughout the garden.
Speculative chewing of nearly everything to find what tastes best, the uprooting of new plants, the stripping of bark from trees, and of
course digging holes in your lawn for you to turn your ankle in, all make rabbits many gardener’s most hated enemy.
So what can be done?
You could find a good recipe for rabbit stew, get an air rifle or ferret & go on a spree, though as everyone knows nothing breeds quite like
rabbits & in most locations new bunnies will soon move in to replace the killed ones.
The best long-term answer to a rabbit problem is to protect your garden as best as is practicable by fencing.
Erecting a rabbit-proof fence is a time consuming process & hard work
involving a lot of digging, but it is still the best way to protect your
garden where total rabbit eradication is not an option.
A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link and a rabbit-proof fence is
not rabbit-proof if it does not entirely surround the garden. Rabbits are
small, flexible & wily creatures just waiting to exploit any chink, so
check the fence regularly & patch holes.
Rabbits & especially hares are accomplished jumpers so any fence
should be 4’-5’ (120-150cm) high above ground, of a galvanised
hexagonal mesh with gaps of not more than 1” (25mm) in diameter.
The tricky & time consuming bit is the digging down to sink the bottom
1’ (30cm) of the fence into the ground, bending the lower 6” (15cm)
outwards to discourage them burrowing into your green & pleasant
land. The posts need not be as stout or as deeply driven as a stock or
deer fence, but you still don’t want it to fall over! Round 2” (5cm) posts
at 7-10’ (2-3m) spacing should do, though thicker post will last longer.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Watership Down
Where fencing & eradication is not a practical option one must learn to live with the rabbits & to garden with them in mind.
Flower beds may be somewhat protected by small enclosures of fencing.
For individual trees tree guards may be used, these are available in several designs, all ugly. They form a cylinder of mesh or solid plastic
around the trunk to keep the rabbits & hares out, other designs work by wrapping a stiff self-expanding spiral of plastic around the trunk of
your young tree to prevent ring barking.
There is probably no such thing as a truly rabbit-proof plant, they will usually try something before deciding they don’t like it. Hares are
particularly selective eaters & by careful avoidance of planting rabbit fodder & sticking to that which is poisonous or unpalatable something
resembling a garden can emerge.
Where a rabbit visitation is an occasional rather than frequent event using a good number of rabbit-resistant plants in the most accessible
areas of the garden may well be more sensible than spending lots of time & money on a fence.
We have come across many lists of so-called rabbit & deer-proof plants in our time & for nearly every plant on those lists someone has told
us how the rabbits, hares, sheep or deer always make a bee-line for it. Still there are plants that are definitely preferred over others,
different populations are reputed to have different tastes so what works in some places may not be so effective elsewhere. Some of these
resistant plants are toxic to humans too, so parents & grandparents with little people running around might also wish to avoid them.
Below is a fairly long list of the plants less likely to be bothered by rabbits and other grazers, all will generally grow well in Wester Ross,
though some will want some shelter from salt winds.
Members of the iris family, Iridaceae, are pretty much disliked by everything, so irises themselves, Crocosmia & Libertia are worth a go,
many of the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae are poisonous or inedible so try Aconite, Anemone or Clematis.
Poor Peter Rabbit is unable to get under the buried
galvanised chicken wire to the flowers beyond
In the late 1950s (well before
James Taylor sung ‘Bright
Eyes’) it was your patriotic
duty to kill as many rabbits
as possible as they harmed
agricultural production.
Acanthus
Aconitum (monkshood)
Agapanthus
Ajuga reptans (bugle)
Alchemilla mollis (lady’s mantle, a pest in itself)
Allium (onions, leeks, garlic, etc.)
Alstroemeria (A. aurea is a vigorous spreader)
Anaphalis
Anemone hupehensis & A. × hybrida (these are the lovely late flowering Japanese anemones)
Antirrhinum (snapdragons)
Aquilegia (columbines)
Aster
Astilbe
Bergenia
Brunnera macrophylla
Chionodoxa
Colchicum (crocus)
Convallaria majalis (lily-of-the-valley)
Crocosmia (Montbretias)
Cyclamen
Cynaria (cardoon or globe artichoke)
Dicentra
Digitalis (foxgloves)
Doronicum
Echinops (globe thistles)
Epimedium
Eryngium agavifolium
Erythronium
Eupatorium
Euphorbia (spurges)
Fritillaria
Galanthus nivalis (snowdrops)
Gentiana asclepiadea (willow gentian)
Geranium sanguineum
Helleborus
Hemerocallis (day-lilies)
Heuchera
Hyacinthoides non-scripta (bluebells)
Iris
Kniphofia (red hot pokers)
Lamium
Leucojum
Lysimachia clethroides (goosefoot, a spreader)
Macleaya cordata (plume poppy)
Malva moschata (mallow)
Mentha (mints)
Muscari (grape hyacinth)
Myosotis (forget-me-nots)
Narcissus (daffs)
Nepeta × faassenii
Origanum vulgare (marjoram)
Paeonia
Papaver somniferum (opium poppy)
Penstemon
Persicaria
Phormium tenax (New Zealand flax)
Polemonium (Jacob’s ladder)
Polygonatum × hybridum
Primula
Pulmonaria
Romneya coulteri
Salvia
Saxifraga × urbium (London pride)
Schizostylis coccinea
Sedum
Stachys byzantina (lamb’s lugs)
Tradescantia
Trillium grandiflorum
Trollius (globe flower)
Tulipa (tulips)
Verbascum thapsi
Verbena
Viola odorata
Zantedeschia (calla / arum lily)
Rabbits dislike ferns.
A list of non-woody rabbit resistant plants:
Trees & shrubs that rabbits generally will avoid:
Alnus (alder)
Araucaria araucana (monkey puzzle)
Arbutus (strawberry trees)
Aucuba japonica (spotted laurel)
Berberis
Betula (birch trees)
Buddleja
Callistemon (bottle brush)
Ceanothus
Cistus
Clematis
Cordyline (cabbage tree)
Cornus (dogwoods)
Cytisus (brooms)
Elaeagnus (deer appear to like these though)
Escallonia
Eucalyptus
Euonymus
Fatsia japonica
Fuchsia
Gaultheria mucronata (Pernettya)
Hippophae rhamnoides (sea buckthorn)
Hydrangea
Hypericum calycinum (rose of Sharon)
Laburnum
Laurus nobilis (bay tree)
Lavatera
Ligustrum ovalifolium (privet)
Lonicera (honeysuckle)
Olearia
Pieris
Pinus nigra (black pine)
Rhododendron (including Azaleas)
Ribes (flowering currents)
Rosmarinus officinalis
Sambucus species (elder)
Solanum
Teucrium fruticans
Vaccinium
Vinca (periwinkle)
Weigela
If you have a rabbit problem please let us know what has done well and what has become dish of the day for Bugs Bunny.
Our nursery sits with two inches of peat over 1 billion year old bedrock so we don’t have to worry about rabbits ourselves, though we have
to be constantly vigilant of marauding deer, sheep & cows!