bunnies and hares often prune my roses. Funny though, they do a pretty good job on the low stuff in fall and winter and as long as I repel them in spring it's all good!

Just leave the lilac until it is fully leafed out and then see what is alive and dead - prune out the dead stuff.

-Marie

I thought the subject was a euphemism for shooting them or something.

Aside from obviously dead or broken branches pruning should be done after the flowering period. Be careful though- next years flower buds form during the summer and you don't want to prune those away. Prune a break just to below the break, not all the way to the ground.

Andie-
You got me all excited, like Leaveswave, I thought you'd come up with another or novel form of rabbit control!

What I can't figure out, is with all this green stuff around now in the spring, why do rabbits insist on ignoring the weeds and only eat my 'planted' plants?

I've noticed that after my lilac's get a certain size, the rabbits seem to leave them alone, not even bothering the very low branches... I guess the rabbits only like them 'young and tender'...?

~Michele

I was happy to see that the bunny-nipped branches are rebudding, so thanks for restraining me from getting too pruning crazy. However, I may still go bunny "pruning" from time to time. I have a new beagle/spaniel cross and I am hoping she will be a good bunny repellant.

There's been a feral cat hanging around and he has done a masterful job of bunny control.So far I haven't been able to get within 15 feet of him.

I also had a rather bloodthirsty reaction to the subject of this posting. Do you think that means there's something wrong with us?

Fitz

Speaking of pruning the bunny population, I just got off the phone with animal control in St. Paul. They give out live traps for rabbits or squirrels for a $25 refundable deposit. You can keep the trap up to two weeks and if you catch an animal, you're supposed to call them for them to come get it. They euthanize the critter. Given that they kill the animal, it's weirdly illegal for YOU to kill the animal or use a lethal trap or snare. Of course, it occurs to me that if I caught a squirrel, killed and ate it and then returned the empty trap to them later, they wouldn't know. Sadly, they're out of squirrel traps right now, as all are already out to citizens.

But it's interesting information.