We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower, American army general and 34th president of the U.S.
Anybody who knows me knows I love bunnies.
Just not in my flowers.
When Dallas was a pup, I started encouraging him not to bother the rabbits who’d invariably put nests of babies in our yard.
Dallas watched the nests with curiosity, but he was exceptionally gentle and never poked at them.
Sure, he enjoyed chasing the parents, but the babies he left alone.
And now it seems word has spread that Dallas is gone, so our yard has become a haven of little hoppers.
You might recall a couple of years ago that a friend gifted me some Sedum. It’s a lovely pinkish-purple perennial flower that attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, and I’ve been pampering it.
After transferring it in three batches from a big pot to a sunny spot in the backyard, I put two fences around the area to protect it from pests and weather:
All safe and secure, right?
Imagine my surprise when I noticed a HUGE bunny skulking around the backyard, pulling up mouthfuls of grass, and carrying them off.
Hmm, what’s it doing? I wondered, wandering out to check.
Lo and behold, Bunny was inside the fence with my Sedum. And when it saw me, it leaped over both fences and sprinted off to safety.
I checked my flowers and found a large hole right at the base of one.
Furious, I repaired the damage and went back inside.
The rest of the day, off and on, I watched, and I’m pretty sure Bunny was watching me back.
As the dinner hour drew nigh, the bunny again approached my Sedum patch.
And again, I chased it off.
How do I protect my growing Sedum from these wascally wabbits?
Then I hit upon an idea.
It will be about two months before I can put out flowers in pots, so I grabbed the three rubber snakes and two spinner-things I use to discourage nesting birds.
And I decorated my Sedum plot thusly:
Don’t judge — I’m doing the best I can!
We’ll see if it works.
In the meantime, Bunny needs to realize I’ve got LOTS of time on my hands.
This coronavirus pandemic has quarantined most of us at home, and I’m a writer, deep in the weeds of penning my novel (and thus easily tempted away from my desk!)
Musings by an ND Domer's Mom 
I’ll bet that bunny is carrying off that soft grass for nest-making. You might be able to divert it by offering up an alternative. This article gives some details about what they prefer, and I’ll bet that sedum is being used to build the foundation of the nest. If you could find something with a similar texture — maybe among weeds in a vacant lot — and make it available on the outside of your fence, the sedum might survive.
Thanks for the suggestion and the link! In my research, I learned rabbits don’t like the smell of vinegar (guess they prefer their salads plain!), so I soaked some cotton balls in it and placed them in a container with holes poked through the lid. It seems to have done the trick for they’ve decided to nest elsewhere. With a yard as huge as ours, surely they can find a place other than this two foot by six foot enclosure for raising young’uns!
HA! Debbie, I LOVE your post title. VERY clever!
BRILLIANT idea about using the rubber snakes! In fact, before reading your words, I looked at your photos first and immediately noticed the snakes, thinking they were REAL. And if they fooled me, I’m sure they’ll fool the wabbits!
Hope your novel is progressing well! I too am finding all sorts of ways to be creative during this time.
Stay well, my friend! XO
Aren’t those rubber snakes creepy?? One is actually a cobra, and just moving it around my sedum enclosure gives me the shivers! I imagine the rabbits found them just as intimidating, ha!
Oh, good, you’re being creative, too. That’s wonderful, Ron! None of us likes a disruption in our routine, but rather than railing against it, I suppose going with the flow (and finding something that brings us peace and happiness) is a better option.
We’re getting snow right now — perhaps we can send some your way?!! xo
I don’t have much experience with rabbits. I’ve seen them hopping around at other places but not here. I think Linda has some pretty good advice.
Thanks, John. I imagine Lucy and Twiggy are imposing obstacles to yard bunnies! Of course, they didn’t seem to mind Dallas, but he wasn’t much interested in getting one; he seemed to prefer herding them from one corner of the yard to another!
That would be someting to see. 😊
If your rubber snake doesn’t work, you can borrow my sister’s dog, she loves to chase bunnies.
Dallas used to love chasing squirrels. Bunnies, not so much. So far, I think the snakes are working. Probably helps for me to go outside and move them around every other day — they think they’re alive that way, ha!
Hahaha, I’m sorry but the thought of you and the bunny feuding over the next few weeks did make me laugh! I bet bunny wins… 😉😂
We have to find some cheap, stay-at-home entertainment during this pandemic. Little does Bunny know I’m stuck here … and NOT very happy about it!
LOL…she’s trying to make a nest. I know this because one year I kept finding a whole at the base of one of the plants in the big pots I had in front of the porch. In those days, because we remodeling, this was the only door we used. We both went in and out, right past these pots, including with the dog. Every morning I’d find a whole and I’d fill it in and the next day I’d find another hole and I’d fill it in. Eventually I put a coke can in the whole. The next day the can was in the drive and the hole was back in the pot. I gave up.
Mama rabbit had 4 or 5 babies in that pot…it was a big pot, so she either jumped up there, about 3 feet, or hopped up onto the porch and then over. We never saw her there during the day, she nursed them at night and was out in the yard watching from afar during the day. One day one had fallen out and we put it back in the pot. Eventually they all hopped away, we didn’t see it happen, but for awhile we saw little baby bunnies in the yard. At that point I filled in the hole again. The plant was fine.
Thanks for letting me know this! I kind of thought that’s what she might be trying to do. I guess mama bunnies aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed, though, because there’s an entire huge yard for her to drop her babies yet she seems to want the ONE place I don’t want them! I hope when the wee ones have “hatched” my Sedum will not only survive but thrive.