I spray with Deer and Rabbit repellent. You also could trap them, shoot them, put a wire cage around the plant, fence-in your garden. Lots of options. If you do a search here on gardenweb, you'll find a ton of threads on rabbits. Good luck!

Eat the rabbits....

Wabbits!! They used to eat my red poppy and daylilies, Aloha - so frustrating!! The deer/rabbit spray has helped, but putting some fencing around the plant they love at least until it's big enough to "defend" itself and/or they go on to other things to eat has helped in combination with the spray. I've been redoing the flower bed both of those plants are in and putting some retaining blocks around the bed, so roughly about 8-10 inches high. Although they can, and do sometimes, jump on top or inside the bed, I think it's enough of a nuisance to them that they prefer to skip doing that. Those plants are doing much better this year I think because of that!

Good luck saving your cone flower!

I tried fishing line one year. The deer learn how to break it and it was a mess to clean up and untangle. Rabbits can fit through a 2 inch space when young.

Try making a homemade spray out of garlic, hot pepper and a drop of dish soap. Spray again after rain or irrigation. Test first that the plants you want to protect aren't damaged by the spray but they should be fine.

We seemed to solve our 'rabbits-eating-broccoli plants' problem by purchasing 50' of 3' rabbit fence (for $25 at H.D. or Lowes) and cutting the fencing into individual cages for each broccoli plant. Since the rabbit fence is graduated from small to large openings, the rabbits got no broccoli last year. We still have the cages that can be opened for flat storage.

Thanks for all the ideas.

I have successfully put up fishing line to keep the geese away in the past. Currently we have a makeshift chicken wire cage with some old screen we had. It takes away from the garden though we tried to have it look as nice as possibly. I'm going to set up the fishing line and skewers tomorrow.

I may try gjcore's recipe since it would be completely invisible.

The coneflower still looks like it has been. Considering it was pretty chewed down, there isn't much to entice a rabbit to much down.

For smaller, delicate starter plants, some of my family uses these dollar-store wire waste baskets secured with landscape pins.

I have also used overturned hanging wire baskets and an old golf ball basket. I don't have rabbits though and they could get through most of those. I use them to keep cats off or the weed whacker blades off new plants.

ironically the rabbits are abundant here but rarely a problem. Ironically it is because the awful bindweed is so abundant that they have evolved to love that stuff. They do occasionally munch on the pea plants, so that's a bit annoying, but generally not. I planted Cauliflower once though.. they ate that immediately!! never planted it again... lol.

that's GREAT to hear the rabbits eat that awful field bindweed! It's rampant all over NE Aurora.

I have an update...the bunnies have arrived. I now have at least two bunnies in my yard. They just moved in so I have yet to see what damage they do in the growing season. Interestingly, I put some carrots out on the lawn a few days ago and they didn't touch them at all. I guess they are not related to Bugs.

Ooo, popmama - if you have two, you will soon have more I'm afraid! I would expect them to do a at least a little damage if left unchecked. I've read that carrots aren't actually that good for rabbits as they are high in sugar, but also that rabbits don't naturally eat root vegetables. So Bugs was an anomaly! LOL.

Thanks for that tip on using the Dollar store wire baskets to protect plants - I'll use that idea!

Yeah I'm sure there will be damage. I will just have to determine how to mitigate it and also to ensure they never make it to the back yard.

Rather than topical sprays and "prison like" infrastructure in your garden, try using a non-toxic systemic repellent called Repellex. I have used it in CA, NV and now OR for deer, rabbits and voles/moles. It works and works for my clients. I was involved in landscape contracting for 15 years before opening my current nursery. I have used it for 12 years now. It has to be applied correctly, there is a right and wrong way to do it, but in the long run, it actually "educates" the critters over generations that certain plants are NOT on the menu. (It is NOT for edibles as it makes the plant taste like crap.)

Karen, that's an interesting product.

The Rabbit product says it's not for sale in CA. I wonder why that is? Also, it says .3% capsaicin and 99% "other" ingredients. What are the "other" ingredients? There are no pictures of the back of the container.

I also note they have an anti-squirrel product. That one may be worth a try since the squirrels wreak as much, if not more, havoc than the rabbits do right now. In fact, I caught a squirrel stealing hens and chicks from a planter today.

I make it a point to plant rabbit-resistant plants whenever possible. If I do plant a non-rabbit-resistant plant, I try to plant it next to rabbit-resistant plants. the poop on rabbit-resistant plants

Great article, Deb. Thanks for passing that along!