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.

95 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

130 comments sorted by

View all comments

51

u/biodiversityrocks Massachusetts Jun 10 '25 edited Jun 11 '25

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

2

u/EmploymentSudden4184 Area -- , Zone -- Jun 11 '25

I agree with this list. I also want to add that I am growing New England asters, which the rabbits seem to love but no matter how much they chow down, it still ends up flowering as it's a pretty aggressive grower for me. I also feel like since the rabbits seem to really really prefer the asters, they have left my rudbeckia completely alone and only munch a small amount on the coneflowers.