by Leslie Cox; Monday, March 10, 2014

Or perhaps there is just one bunny in the garden. Either way, my evergreen Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’ (variegated Japanese sedge) is currently being chewed down to the ground. All five of them. Grrrr!

Same thing happened last year too. But I was prepared to let nature take its course and leave the rabbit to the resident owls and hawks that live in our neighbourhood. They have always done their bit to keep unwelcome garden predators under control.

Does not appear to be happening though. Last year, two tiny baby bunnies managed to squeeze through the stucco wire fence that separates the cultivated back garden from the wild field in behind us. Am still pretty good with the ol’ fish net and managed to capture the two of them before they completely devoured the newly emerging seedlings of Clarkia amoeba ‘Azalea Mix’ (Godetia ‘Azalea Mix’) and Centranthus rubra (red valerian). Honestly, their appetites put a teenager’s to shame.

(In case you are wondering…we did not put the babies in the stew pot. We are way too soft-hearted for that!)

As for the “devil” in the front garden, he/she is more sneaky…preferring to take its buffet repast in the dead of night when neither John nor I are around. But every morning Sadie is sure interested in following the path of its night-time shenanigans through the garden.

Yesterday, one of my Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’ flowers was gnawed off. Might have been a slug but I am betting on the rabbit because the flower was just laying on the ground uneaten and the other two flowers were not touched. Slug would have lopped off all three and devoured them. Irises are not one of a rabbit’s favourite meals but this one must have forgotten that fact temporarily.

Will have to do something about the rabbit pretty soon as there are quite a few plants starting to nose their way up.