Above: Caged Coneflower
Sylvilagus floridanus, the eastern
cottontail rabbit, is a common in Virginia. Some gardeners rail against
squirrels (I count myself among them, as they like to strip my fruit trees
bare), others count the rabbit as one of the worst mammalian garden pests. For
the most part, rabbits don't do too much damage in my garden. I must cage a few
plants, but my raised garden beds are high enough that they don't seem to
bother them. If you don't have raised beds, you will be subject to rabbits eating your
lettuces, greens, radish tops, and many other common garden plants.
The biggest surprise for me has been
how readily rabbits eat some of my native plants, especially the native
helianthus (a type of perennial sunflower), coneflowers, and asters. I planted
them the spring, and they seemed to be doing fine for quite a while. Due to the
intense heat, I had not visited this garden bed for a week, at which point I
found the plants cropped down almost to the ground. Cages to the rescue! (I
don't know why I found this to be a surprise, as native creatures are adapted
to eat native plants).
Some gardeners like to use animal
repellent, hot pepper wax, or garlic spray to ward off these creatures, but
these require reapplication after rain and I just can't keep up with it. I find
cages to be adequate to stop rabbits, though squirrels will plow right through
them or shove them to the side. Make sure you anchor the cages down to the
ground and they should protect your plants!
