LOL! We have chicken wire rings around many of our trees. I have noticed that once they get large and woody the bunnies leave them alone. Today we noticed a jackrabbit with his front feet on the chicken wire, eating the lower leaves of an apricot tree.

They will chew on prickly pear pads and ice plant. I have salvia greggi, russian sage, ocotillo, cresote, bird of paradise, native desert marigold, santolina, and native verbena planted outside my stucco walls and they do NOT eat on those plants. High Country Gardens lists plants that they don't bother in their catalog. Good luck!

Santolina and artemisia are great deterents. Also I have pumkin vines and watermelon vines that are being ignored. Cactus and yucca are chewed on but not destroyed. Vinca and verbena are quite safe. Someone as said that rabbits will eat anything, even if they don't like it. Keep trying.

My grandfather had an apple orchard, I remember him going to a hair salon and bringing home hair clippings, he would place these hairs all around the trees, he said the rabbits hate the hair, and it kept them away, atleast it did in Illinois.

My dad in Iowa had rabbits eat his tomato plants. He said he put bone meal around the areas of the plants and he has not had any more nibbles. He lost the main stem from one plant and lots of leaves from others, but nothing now!

He is an old farmer and knew that would be a smell they would not like.

Found this list at the link below. Most of them have links to pics.

Perennials

Achillea(Yarrow)
Agastache(Just Peachy)
Agastache(Shades of Orange)
Agastache(Licorice Mint)
Agave(Century Plant)
Amphora(Lead Plant)
Aquilegia(Columbine)
Artemisia(Sage)
Cacti
Digitalis(Foxglove)
Gaillardia (Firewheel)
Geraniums(Hardy Geraniums)
Kniphofia(Red Hot Poker)
Lavandula(Lavender)
Narcissus(Daffodils)
Nepeta(Blue Catnip)
Origanum(Oregano)
Oxytropis(Locoweed)
Penstemons Paeonia(Peony)
Rosmarinus(Rosemary)
Salvia
Santolina
Scrophularia(Redbirds in a Tree)
Sedum(Stone Crop)
Stanelya (Prince's Plume)
Tagetes (Perennial Marigold)
Tanacetum vulgaris Crispum (also an ant repellent plant) view
Thymus species
Tritoma
Yucca
Zinnia grandiflora
Zizophora(Blue Mint Bush)

Shrubs
Caryopteris(Spiraea)
Chrysothamnus(Chamisa)
Cytisus(Hardy Broom)
Falugia(Apache Plume)
Perovskia(Russian Sage)

Here is a link that might be useful: Rabbit Resistant Plants

Old wifeÂs tale that has worked for us (I'm your immediate neighbor, by the way- Lucerne Valley here)

Lay out sticks of Juicy Fruit. The rabbits and ground squirrels will eat that and leave your flowers alone. Also, cats help keep these critters away.

I started a thread about rabbit-resistant plants, last fall. I wanted to find it again...but when I did a search, it didn't come up...only recent posts. Is there any way to find it again? I was going to say the Ruellia ALL got munched by the Quail...and the Lantana, Red Fairy-Dusters & Mex. Honeysuckle are still just great. I'll try some listed above. Thanks for the additions to the possibles! (I asked in another thread...but do any of you know if blackberries are safe from critters?
TIA

We have 32 rabbits, so I think I might be able to help. Try giving them some hot chile peppers to nibble on! Some rabbits don't like lilac either.

Dear HiDesertLady,
Wow, apricots (all parts except the fruit) are supposed to be poisonous to rabbits. So with that in mind, here are some others, said to be toxic to rabbits: Agave, Almond, Aloe, Amaryllis, Andromeda, Anemone, Angel's Trumpet (Datura), Asian Lily, Asparagus Fern, Autumn Crocus, Avocado leaves, Azalea leaves. (more to come)
Linda Sun

More: Balsam Pear (outer rind), Baneberry (berries and roots), Baarbados Lily, Begonia, Bittersweet, Black Nightshade, Black Walnut hulls, Bloodroot, Bluebonnet, Boston Ivy, Busy Lizzie, Buttercup leaves, Black Locuts, Boxwood leaves & twigs, Bracken Fern, Buckthorn berries, fruit and bark, Bull Nettle, Buttercup leaves, bulbs & sap, Caladium, Calendula, Calico Bush, Calla Lily, Caladiur leaves, Carnation, Carolina Jessamine, astor Bean seeds and leaves, Cherry tree (all parts except fruit), (more)

My friend, who lives in cold, high desert on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevadas, is now convinced that what the deer won't eat, the jackrabbits will, and what the jackrabbits won't eat, the ground squirrels will. In other words, she gave up.

Yep, that about sums it up.

The most frustrating thing when I was landscaping was to set out plants so the planting crew could get them into the ground. I quickly learned not to get too far ahead of the crew least the rabbits would come along and nibble. The "will not eat" list depends on the season, early spring the beasts are hungry and will nibble just about anything.

Plant and cover with chicken wire until the plants are established and producing bittering agents such as phenols. Then the bunnies are less interested........but the deer don't mind.

I sprinkle my beds with either bloodmeal or minced garlic every week or two and that put a stop to rabbit munching.

I am curious about what type of ground cover Rabbits will Not eat. Does anyone know of any??

Help in Lake Mathews..

Compare databases: What won't jackrabbits eat that also the following animals will not eat in redwood country: the desultory eagle pair, vigilant owls, Stellar jays, many finch like birds, several roaming groups of wild pigs, gophers, quail, peacocks, deer, two horses, Sheltie dogs. If there are plant eating snakes, bands of pigeons sometimes, a sleepy gray stork, a few skitterish mallards. Though we are grateful for siamese cats and Sheltie dogs. We took the fencing away. Excellent soils. Place is close to picture on my "website", see link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Looks south across former vineyard

Rabbits DO EAT LAVENDER!!!!! I have the mulled lavender plants and bunny turds in the snow to prove it 100%. :(

I'm in the middle of some landscape remodeling. Rabbits have been feasting on some blue fescue ornamental grasses I planted. I was at a coffee shop a few days back and picked up a big bag of used coffee grinds for my compost bin. Instead, I just dumped it in a new bed close to the rabbits hangout. I haven't seen hide or hare since then. Coincidence??? If I keep on not seeing rabbits, I'm going to put used grind directly in my beds more often instead of in my compost piles.

half of my lavender plants were munched. My mini roses mowed down to the roots, all my baby poppies, and even a couple of my white potato vines were messed with...and bunny droppings everywhere! These are BABY bunnies btw, able to get through wire fencing with only 2" spaces between the wire! Not to mention the quail family that treat us like a drive through diner...I love animals, but this is so frustrating!

Desert rabbits often eat plants for the moisture in them, as much as for the nourishment. You might leave a filled water dish out and see if that breaks their habit of mowing down everything in sight.

Re: Moisture

I have a small in ground pond AND a small kiddle pool (collects drainwater from evaporative cooler). They still chew up my driplines (totally exasperating!!)

Plants Rabbits/Rodents Don't Eat at My House:

Coyote Melon
Lavender
Maximillian Sunflower (Helianthus maximilianii)

They pretty much nibble on everything else. But the larger plants can deal with it. Sometimes you can give the plants hardware cloth/chicken wire houses for a couple years and then remove.

I live in a remote area of the desert and we used to have several coyote packs out here. Sadly, idiots have shot most of the coyotes just because they were coyotes. Now, we have an out of control rabbit population. It only took two years without coyotes. The cottontails aren't have the problem that the Jack Rabbit (hares) are.

I leave water out in several spots as I heard that helps. It doesn't.

I planted a thorny hybrid type of cactus that I was told they would hate. They ate it in half. I planted a soap aloe, that I was told they would hate due to the taste. They ate every single spear in half.

I planted roses and they stripped them immediately.

We planted lavender and they ate every single plant TO THE GROUND.

Now, we have ugly chicken wire cages around every rose, all our young pine trees (they ate those too), and all our expensive rabbit-resistant cacti.

Someone recommended we use human urine around the plants. We tried it around one plant and it appears to have worked, but WE smell it too. No thanks.

I am ready to start culling out the over-populated hares here. Idiots should have never killed off all our coyotes.

The only plants they do NOT eat here so far:
California poppies
California Bluebells
Desert Marigold
Needleleaf Ragwort
Fruitless Olive tree (or their shoots, which I wish they WOULD eat)
Pomegranate tree (or their shoots, which I wish they WOULD eat)
Chia


The plants they DO eat so far:
Lavender
Cornflower/Bachelor Buttons
Daisies
Desert Asters
Rose bushes
Afghan Pine Trees
COUNTLESS wildflowers that were in a wildflower mix that got munched as they sprouted
Soap Agave
Hybrid Purple Prickly Pear (with big white thorns!!!)

Bertsdirt, I am going to try coffee grounds. Thanks!

I think we should live in harmony with nature, their habitat has been systematically destroyed so theymust be at their wits end too. The worst part is that people do not plant native vegetation but plants native to Asia, Tropics or Europe, I suggest you get some natives seeds a the places in your area similar to California Payne Foundation, in California, they sell 1 lb of native seeds ( perennial mix )and spread them at the perimeter of your property. They will be busy eating that and won't bother your plants. The idea is to designate an area with their favorite plants so that they congregate in that area. You can designate that part of your garden The Rabbit Spot. Instead of thinking what to plant that they don't eat. Think to plant food they will enjoy.