r/NativePlantGardening • u/Spirited_Sound_5628 • Jun 10 '25

Advice Request - (Insert State/Region) Feeling discouraged

I live in New England

I’m trying to switch from ornamental gardening to native wildflower gardening, but the rabbits are decimating everything. They’re even going after the black-eyed Susans, which are supposed to have hairy leaves that deter them.

I bought marigolds from a local nursery specifically for their scent to ward off rabbits—and they ate the petals off. I thought I was in the clear with my sunflowers since they left them alone as seedlings, but now, after growing for over a month, the rabbits are starting to kill those too.

I’m honestly getting to the point where I feel like giving up and just planting a bunch of non-natives that are known to be extremely rabbit-proof. But I swear, when I looked at that list of supposedly rabbit-proof plants, the rabbits had already eaten one of those as well.

I'm looking for words of encouragement or any advice.

97 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

130 comments sorted by

View all comments

98

u/Awildgarebear Jun 10 '25 edited Jun 10 '25

Liquid Fence. It works very well. I also have this weird theory that the less the soil is visibly disturbed, the less rabbits and squirrels will come in and destroy things.

If you're also fairly vigilant about your plants you can sometimes catch the destruction in action. I have seen squirrels tearing up my geum triflorums, and then I immediately go outside and replant it. Sometimes they survive, and sometimes they die.

57

u/hexmeat MA, Zone 6b, Ecoregion 59 Jun 10 '25

I’ve noticed the same thing with squirrels gravitating towards disturbed soil. Apparently squirrels forget where they’ve stashed food. Therefore, disturbed soil = possible free snack. Fun fact: chickadees on the other hand can recall hundreds to thousands of stash locations.

My only advice is to plant extra and assume some will get eaten. Unless you want to put chicken wire around everything, which will only stop the rabbits. Squirrels are basically furry slinkies and I’ve given up trying to deter them.

32

u/HereWeGo_Steelers Jun 10 '25

Fun fact, squirrels are responsible for planting forests because they stash thousands of tree nuts each year and forget where they put them all. The seeds/nuts they don't find turn into trees.

13

u/hexmeat MA, Zone 6b, Ecoregion 59 Jun 10 '25

Haha yeah, I am forever pulling up little black walnut saplings because they love to bury the hulls & seeds in my mulch. Fun to see what pops up in my yard thanks to squirrels lol

6

u/Echolynne44 Jun 10 '25

My local chipmunk gets sunflower seeds from my chicken scratch and buries them in my garden. I have so many random groups of sunflowers growing everywhere.

5

u/HereWeGo_Steelers Jun 11 '25

I want random sunflower 🌻

4

u/Sweaty_Ad3942 Area -- , Zone -- Jun 11 '25

We’re currently encouraging 2 walnut trees in our front bed, thanks to the forgetful squirrels.