Gardening
Woody plants with thicker bark, thorns, or fragrant bark may deter rabbits initially, but hunger will drive them to nibble just about anything to survive.
How glorious does a 50-degree day feel in March? I am sure I am not alone in feeling joy at the sun’s warmth upon my face, and at its power rapidly melting the piles of snow in the garden.
Tree buds are swelling, the bluebirds have returned, and with the spring equinox a mere few weeks away, I feel confident in saying the garden and its humans have survived another winter. I anxiously await the imminent emergence of my favorite early flowering spring bulbs, of which I will share more later in the column.
Each season brings its own challenges, and the melting snow reveals all. We humans are not the only ones to find winter a tough slog; animals such as rabbits struggle, too. With abundant snow cover late into the winter, rabbits often turn to stripping bark from the exposed trunks of small trees and shrubs, a sign that they truly have run out of anything else to eat.
Just like George Washington’s soldiers eating rock tripe (a type of lichen) during the brutal winter of 1777-1778, the rabbits of New England have turned to bark as a way to survive. A reader wrote in with a question about what to do about rabbit damage this deep into winter.
The winter snowstorms have brought a new threat to shrubs and small trees in our backyard. Apparently, it covered up food sources for rabbits, who then turned to the thin bark on the lower parts of shrubs and small trees. Check out the photo I took today of our pink rose of Sharon. I’m afraid it won’t survive.
I have two questions: Before the snows come, how could one protect such plants so that the rabbits can’t or won’t attack the bark? Are there species of plants available that the rabbits won’t eat? For example, I learned the hard way that rabbits love to eat tulips but not daffodils.
Neighbors have been having similar problems. There’s an audience for your informed opinions.
Bill, Waltham
When rabbits strip bark from small trees and shrubs, they disrupt the connective tissues that transport water, sugars, and minerals from the soil to the rest of the plant. If the damage is complete around the entire stem, the rabbits have girdled the plant.
The only solution requires patience and time. You can regenerate the shrub by pruning to just below the damaged sections, ideally above a bud or node if one is visible. For established shrubs, recovery will take years. For single-stem trees, such a hard regenerative pruning cut will result in a multistemmed plant, which may cause structural issues as the tree matures.
To quote Benjamin Franklin, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” To prevent future rabbit damage, gardeners either erect small hardware cloth or chicken wire fences around vulnerable plants before winter sets in. Remember that rabbits are lightweight and can travel on top of the snow, so with accumulations like this winter, the fence should be at least 3 feet in height.
You may also wrap the stems in a loose plastic sleeve or use burlap; the idea is to place a barrier of material between your plants and those sharp incisors. I do not recommend repellent sprays as they tend to wear off and need to be reapplied periodically.
Lastly, giving your small trees and shrubs a deep watering before the frost helps them emerge in the spring without added drought stress and be healthier, so they bounce back from any minor rabbit damage.
Woody plants with thicker bark, thorns, or fragrant bark may deter rabbits initially, but hunger will drive them to nibble just about anything to survive. Even rose shrubs are not immune to the teeth of rabbits!
The warmer weather spells the arrival of spring-flowering bulbs, and I would love to highlight two favorites, the snowdrop and the snow or reticulate iris. These are easy to cultivate and emerge early, providing hope that spring will soon follow.
Snowdrops (Galanthus) are associated with hope and transitions from death to life. In Greek mythology, this transition mirrors that of Persephone, whose return from the underworld heralds the coming of spring. The Hardy Plant Society of the UK has a great website here dedicated to the genus and its enthusiasts: the galanthophiles, as they are known. This is one of the more delightful rabbit holes to fall into.
My second favorite is a dwarf iris that hails from the Caucasus and blooms before its foliage appears. The species (Iris reticulata) features stunning royal-blue petals and sepals, with the plant reaching only 6 inches in height. There has been excellent breeding work on this iris and several other species, resulting in numerous selections.
Iris “Katherine Hodgkins” is a hybrid dwarf iris with pale blue petals, each with a yellow splotch in the center. I am already looking forward to seeing them bloom in my garden in the coming weeks, and you can look forward to the bulb catalogs arriving next fall.
Ulrich Lorimer is the director of horticulture at the Native Plant Trust in Framingham. Send your gardening questions, along with your name/initials and hometown, to [email protected]
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