i have 5 acres.. had 1500 plus hosta... 50o conifers ... and a mowed meadow i called a lawn ... i never found any groundhog damage ... and always presumed they browsed the weeds i called a lawn ... a veritable buffet of plants ...

sooo .. it might be your lawn that is the root cause of the issue.. if you have all grass ...

same with rabbits for the most part... though occasionally they would snip a few hosta leaves.. and then leave them there.. i guess to see.. whats out in the buffet ...

it will be very hard to stop them mechanically ... meaning hardware and fences ...

ken

Ken, I have never seen a rabbit in our yard. But, I catch the groundhogs all the time--eating my plants! This is particularly apparent around their dens: anything nearby except Nepeta cataria is fair game. I've even found them eating Artemesia absinthium!

Edit: They don't bother conifers. But they will eat, in no particular order and just off the top of my head: Pyrus communis, Ilex verticillata, Prunus armeniaca 'Mandschurica', Prunus triloba, Prunus tomentosa, Prunus subhirtella, Prunus persica 'Nemagard', Artemisia absinthium, Alcea rosea, Rudbeckia hirta, and Echinacea purpurea.

You can add roses and hackberry to that list, also lovage. And malva. I can't think of anything they DON'T eat in my yard, except hostas - those, the deer get.

"...except hostas - those, the deer get." LOL, literally.

Soapwort, AKA Saponaria officinalis, AKA Bouncing Bet is totally ignored by groundhogs in my yard. I learned this after they decimated my phlox population. I let the soapwort infiltrate most plantings (not that I can stop them) and I don't now have a problem. Most of my phlox are behind fences as well.

Of course it helps that I put birdseed on the ground for the birds. and the groundhogs happily eat the birdseed. It's much easier to eat the birdseed than to battle the fences.

Claire

Generally, herbs and other plants with strong smelling leaves are left alone by critters.

Following callirhoe's theory, I'm thinking about rue and tansy; I have both of them and I don't think that the little X)(*&R)R& have ever come near them, as they both smell. Might be worth a try.

This year they have eaten the following from my garden: tagetes, calendula, tomatoes, phlox, phlox, and more phlox, zinnias, fennel, a self-seeded datura (!), lettuce, rocket, achillea, and a few others. They have not touched the nicotiana, and show little interest in snapdragons.

I’m going to have to get some soapwort for next year.

I've got a resident groundhog next door and has a second home under my back porch, so whatever I plant is literally at its front door. Here's what was not touched: rosemary, lemon thyme, calendula, annual impatiens, hardy hibiscus, daylily, balloon flower, Arizona Sunset agastache (leaves smell like licorice), lavender, annual alyssum, begonia, coleus, shasta daisy, mint.

It ate the parsley, pineapple sage, basil, annual and perennial bachelor buttons, larkspur, sweet pea, marigolds, annual lantana, ornamental sweet potato, columbine, nasturtiums.

And some of these were in pots! Got attacked anyway!