Yes and no. It seems to depend on how many rabbits there are in relation to available food and possible predators. Here the balance is pretty good because of the very large coyote population who visit our property regularly, with the occasional bobcat and mountain lion thrown in. Obviously our property isn't fenced. In a housing tract it might be a different story. However, if you have woods nearby and you haven't seen any before you might only have the occasional visitor. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Ingrid

maybe it will also be your last bunny, Sherry.

You're always so positive, Gean. And your point is good, Ingrid, about the occasional visitor. I've never seen one in 5 years here. I really wanted to say how cute he was but I dare not. It's a good thing I didn't have to throw my shoe. I probably would have missed and broken Gruss an Aachen to pieces or, horror of horrors, Murphy's Law, I would have beaned the poor thing.

You're both very wise in such a comical, serious situation. Thank you, friends.

Sherry

There's no such thing as just one bunny.

:(

There was a bunny living in my garden for a while that I called my pet bunny. He seemed to be not at all afraid of me. He never damaged a rose. He must have been eating alfalfa pellets.The last time I saw him was when I was having an awful painful back problem. I had gone out into the garden and laid down in a warm pathway to do creative visualization. When I opened my eyes he was right there looking at me seemingly concerned. When I sat up he calmly hopped off down the path and all the way down the terraced pathways until he disappeared and I never saw him again.

Now that our dogs have passed away, we have a lot of bunnies.

On a good day, all I see them eating is the clover in the grass, which seems to be their favorite. The worst damage they do to my roses is eat the new bands down to nubs sometimes. I'd suggest putting wire cages around small ones. They seem to leave the more mature ones alone.

I used to threaten to capture them and give them to my Spanish friend to put in paella. But now that I have a grandson who loves to watch them I pretend they are cute.

At least it gives me a good excuse to tolerate clover in the grass!

We've gotten our first bunnies this year. We noticed a hole under the fence and bits of hair and other signs, and put a trap at the hole since we'd heard so many negative things about rabbits. The trap was sprung a couple of times, but we didn't catch anything. Then one day we saw mama bunny building a nest (kind of fascinating to watch.) I didn't have the heart to re-set the trap after that, and we like having a critter-friendly yard. We ended up with a couple of baby bunnies who visit our yard daily. And yes, they are incredibly cute.

Like jimmiesgran, I've seen a couple of tiny roses eaten, although it might have been slugs and not the bunnies. None of the larger roses have been bothered, and the favored food seems to be the grass in the flower beds This used to be a cow field, and the grass is probably our biggest nuisance weed. We can stand and watch them suck the grass down like someone slurping spaghetti. They're doing a better job of selective weeding than any neighbor kid I could hire, and with a lot less damage to the plants.

What bothers me about rabbits (by definition and word choice, less cute than bunnies) is that they don't finish their meal. They'll cut off a stem, but leave most of it uneaten, lieing on the ground.
Now deer do eat all that they destroy. Except when they go up apple trees after apples. But I've come to look at late season deer to rose grazing as a pruning aid because they just eat the soft new growth that won't make it through winter, anyway.

With rabbits and hares it really depends if they have what to feed on around. We have some in the fields around the village and they do not seem to bother the gardens.

Also if it is in some populated neighborhood and you never saw a bunny before, it may also be someones escapist pet.

Never had a rabbit anywhere nearby for almost 20 years (lots of coyotes and other predators, like Ingrid described.) And suddenly last year I saw rabbits. This year, LOTS of young rabbits. They have so much to eat in summer that they're no big danger now - and I assume down in Florida, your situation would be much like summertime here. You might have them nibble something small from your garden, but they don't seem to create severe damage. But up north winter is the time I dread them. Last winter they girdled several apple trees (total losses) and ruined quite a few nice, hardy rose canes that otherwise would not have had to be pruned out, drat their furry hides. We have 3 dogs here, but in winter the dogs are not outdoors enough and the rabbits are hungry enough that they became much bolder. I'm waiting to see if the predator populations step up to meet the burgeoning crop of rabbits - which is usually nature's way of balancing things.

Lots of bunnies here, along with chipmunks. There's a bunny that I can set my clock by...it comes out around 6pm every night and feeds on the clover in the yard; munching its way right past all the roses. I've only had a mini rose get grazed on last week that was newly-planted, and I'm not sure that was from the rabbits. Probably Bambi.

Deer.... the roving horde who hangs out in the meadow and woods around my house adores the salad buffet I so graciously provide them...lots of roses to choose from along with daylilies and hostas. Give me rabbits anyday...

I guess we are lucky that there are so many gardens with vegetables here, that the hares and rabbits do not have to eat our roses - I did see a deer one morning munching away on my albas - it certainly seemed to like the flowers of Mme Plantier the best ...
And I here I thought you were allowed to have an arsenal of guns "over there" - and that tresspassers might get shot? I just know that if I had a riffle - that deer could make a tasty meal - rabbits are not bad either - kinda like sweet chicken unless you cook it so the meat becomes too dry ...
I remember Doug /Iowa-Jade in IA had to protect some of his roses too and that the wabbits seemed to have a preference for albas too --- Felicite Parmentier is smaller compact alba - but not that small or so compact ....

Ours seems to be on a regular schedule, too. He was in a partially weeded area yesterday doing cleanup on some of the weeds I'd missed and then taking a sand bath. He hopped over to a tiny band rose and took a sniff. I thought "you little bugger, since I said you were a good bunny you're going to eat all my roses now!" He turned his nose up at the rose and proceeded to chow down on some clover.

He's definitely a wild rabbit (Eastern cottontail) and not someone's pet.

Our grass stays pretty green all winter--generally not too much in the way of snow, so hopefully he'll continue to be a grass & weed eater. We have hawks and eagles in the area, and there are coyotes around, so hopefully the population won't get out of control.

And he's so--darn--CUTE!!! (I think it was a Charlaine Harris character who said that aliens who came to take over the world would come as fuzzy bunnies, because we'd all stand around and say "Awwwwww.")

{{gwi:296316}}

We have tons of rabbits, but I've never noticed any damage to my garden. My cat will kill them, so maybe they know to stay away.

Sherry, did the bunny look like Lucretia's? If not, and since you haven't seen any before, it might be someone's lost pet, just a thought.

lagomorph, he did pretty much except he was sitting up tall and not in that low position.

Niels, oh, to have given you an 'ah ha!' moment by reaching for our 357 magnum rather than my shoe!

lucretia, Charlaine Harris was right.

Sherry

Hi Sherry,
we have kangaroos and wallabies as well as some hares and rabbits. My new David Austins have got knocked around a fair bit, but all their grafts are under the ground so I am sure they will all come back strong in Spring. I have seen own roots come back after being chewed right to the ground.
Thankyou for your kind words too, they mean alot to me.

Anne Cecilia, I lost two young trees to girdling by bunnies. Now as part of my Fall prep I put a chicken wire custom fence around the replacement trees. The trick is to put it up 4+ feet so the bunnies can't get to the tree on top of piled snow. So far so good for 3 years. I have two baby bunnies in residence now. Sooo sweet. Oh yeah, I have to also put wee wire fences around any Asian lilies because they like to eat the new young growth in the spring. That's not a lot of work to share my garden with bunnies.