Bunnies and Gazanias

Bunny
Originally uploaded by stevemd

I had a teacher back in my high school days that told me that I should learn something new everyday. Well, I may go one or two days without learning something, but I really try to remember her teachings. Anyway...it seems that the gazania gifting turned out to be an experiment in rabbit feeding. I received two different emails almost simultaneously saying that the rabbits devoured their gazanias.

Well I definitely learned something. Plants that are resistant to one animal (deer) may not be resistant to another (cute little bunnies).

There are a few possible solutions. A bottle of hare tonic...(sorry only kidding)...one control that I use for rabbits in my garden is sprinkling dried blood meal around the plants. It sounds gruesome, but the blood meal is a bi product of the beef industry. It doesn't have an obnoxious smell, and it will actually also feed the plants. The main drawback is that it is only effective until it rains.

Another solution that I read about online, but haven't tried is putting slices of Irish Spring Soap around the plant. It's the smell of the soap that repels the bunnies, not their aversion to cleanliness.

There are also several commercial repellents that you can use, that don't wash away after a rainfall. Both work extremely well. Bonide makes a granular product called repels all. It does contain dried blood as one of the active ingredients. It will last 30-60 days after application. The other is a liquid called Rabbit & GroundHog Out which contains lemon grass, caster oil, garlic and peppermint. This will also last for thirty days.