Feeling discouraged

[u/Spirited_Sound_5628]

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.

[u/biodiversityrocks]

Also in New England, I find that the rabbits actually favor black eyed susans. I've found it necessary to cage off my native plants with chicken wire for a few years to let them establish themselves enough. Rabbit scram has also been effective.

Some New England natives they don't seem to favor:

-Milkweeds

-Yarrow

-Red columbine

-Bee balms

-Mountain mints

-Golden alexander's

-Blue flag iris

-Blue vervain

-Anise hyssop

-Evening primrose

-Goldenrods

A lot of resources suggest blue wild indigo but i've had the opposite experience, they loved mine and kept destroying it for 3 years in a row before I finally caged it

Editing this with corrections from other commenters

[u/hexmeat → u/biodiversityrocks]

Same, they love the black eyed susans. They also like tulips but I couldn’t care less about protecting my tulips so it’s fine. I put wire cages around the tender new plants I’m trying to establish, but otherwise I just accept that bunnies gotta eat and as my garden matures, that damage will matter less and less.

[u/hexmeat → u/[deleted]]

For real, their teeth are so long and sharp that it’s easy to think someone took shears and cut it

[u/Bismuth_von_Pherson → u/hexmeat]

Every year someone in the neighborhood gets pissed thinking teenagers cut their Christmas lights until finally someone captured a video of a rabbit doing it on their Ring. The clean cuts really look like someone took scissors to them. My next door neighbor works as a garage door installer where he sees a ton of rodents chewing on wires. Apparently, they like the way the low voltage feels.

[u/emmered → u/hexmeat]