In my garden this year it has been the yellow hostas that have been hit. I'm not sure it is the fault of rabbits or deer..

You need a female cat that was raised in a barn. She'll know how to hunt and your hostas will be safe..

I have 2 kitties and they bring me presents of headless baby bunnies on the mat in front of the kitchen door but I still have rabbit browsed hosta. I hope their work is decreasing the rabbit population.

I would think any larger and better substance Hosta would be fine, and maybe any Hosta....once unfurled. I have a LOT of rabbits in my yard. They are a problem when the Hosta are first emerging in the Spring, but seem to prefer other things once the Hosta are opened up and mature. I spray the newly emerging pips with a critter repellent but they are more than fine this time of year.

Thank you all! Cats are a no-no, I am deathly allergic. :(

Allison, I love dogs, but life is too nutty right now to take care of a little guy right. Yours are beautiful. Great joke about winter interest. :)

I guess I'll have to try a single mature division as a test. :o

Allison, lol, winter interest! Your Weirmaraner sits so perfectly I at first thought he was a statue. He's beautiful!

Hl_60: Totally understandable. Are there lots of hiding places for the rabbits near there? If you can, I would try to limit the hiding places so that it's a less attractive home base for them. And at the worst you could try to fence around the area while the hostas are emerging.

Deb215: Thank you :) The Weimaraner is a strange breed but they can look so regal when they are patrolling the yard :)

Allison, their burrow is under a massive viburnum hedge (that I'm pruning, but keeping as a privacy screen). I like your fencing idea, don't know why it never occurred to me. I'll give it a try!

But you will need to bury part of the fence because they will burrow under that too. A suggestion is too bend it at the bottom like an L. That will keep them from burrowing.

Deb, man these guys are sneaky. I was going to start a veggie garden next year too, after this thread....I'm putting that on hold. : /

hl - in the meantime, I've found that Bobbex-R helps, and is a little more effective and longer lasting than Liquid Fence. Last spring I put chicken wire around some plantings that included hostas, deutzias and fothergillas. They were all being eaten by the rabbits. I think once those shrubs get larger and with more woody growth it gets a little better - at least that's what I've found with my Rose of Sharon, and a few others.... Eventually this summer I took the chicken wire down, and they are leaving the shrubs alone, as well as the larger/more mature hostas. But some of the newly-planted hostas are still being eaten, especially if I don't reapply the Bobbex soon enough.

This fall, when it's cool enough, I'm going to place chicken wire around the inside of my "potting shed" - it's the space under my deck, which DH fixed up for me, surrounded with lattice and a door, shelves and potting table : ) That's where they are hiding on my property, and I think I'll take Deb's advice and bury the bottom edges! It won't keep the chipmunks or birds out, but will probably work for the rabbits.

Allison - those dogs are adorable! My lab is 14 years old, and not much of a deterrent at this point.

Liquid Fence is all you need. That makes hostas not edible for rabbits. In my fenced-in backyard and the not fenced front yard, rabbits no longer eat my hostas, because I sprayed with Liquid Fence. They eat violets right now.

They never eat my June, Halcyon, Blue Hadspen, or Patriots. The favorite seem to be gold and chartreuse colored Hostas.