The Penn State Webinar on deer resistant plants, that followed the one on strategies to discouraging wildlife in the garden, was so popular that a program has been developed on rabbit resistant plants.The webcast can be reviewed here: http://rnrext.cas.psu.edu/PAForestWeb/previousseminars.html. It was presented by Linda Wiles, a County Extension educator from Monroe County. Here is a summary of the webinar.

Our backyard cottontail is Sylviagus floridanus. It consumes 1/5 of a pound of food per day, which may not seem like much until it invites its extended family to dine in your garden. Rabbits can cause damage in fruit orchards, where both fruit and bark are consumed; vegetable gardens; flower gardens and in landscape plantings.  A rabbit’s foraging area can range from 1.4 acres to 20 acres. Whatever its chosen range, it does tend to stay within that area where it is familiar with food sources, shelter and escape routes.

A rabbit’s taste is seasonal. During the summer they tend to eat leaves, herbs, clover, legumes, fruits, garden vegetables, broad leafed weeds and grass. In the winter bramble canes, bark buds, tender twigs, and poison ivy vines are consumed. While rabbits can be destructive, they do eat large numbers of plantain and other broad leafed weeds that are lawn pests. They also eat poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac, so some of their gnawing is actually helpful.

The problem with rabbits is not that they eat so much but that there can be so many of them. A rabbit will have from 2-9 young per litter, with younger females having fewer. As the season progresses the number of young per litter increases. A female rabbit will have 4 litters per season and by the end of the summer the females from the earlier litters will be sexually mature and start breeding.

A rabbit’s life span is 3-4 years but in the wild they live closer to 1 year. There are few old rabbits due to predators, rain and floods, land cultivation, disease, parasites, accidents and hunting. Hunting accounts for less than 30% of the rabbit attrition rate.

There are a number of counter measures that the gardener can take to keep rabbits out of the garden. Fencing is one option; it should be 2 feet tall and the mesh should be about 1 inch. Tree guards should be two feet tall also but the estimated level of the snow should be taken into account for winter protection.

Trapping is another option but it isn’t very effective in the summer because there is such an abundant food supply. It might be more effective in the winter but by then the rabbit population has already usually been decimated by nature. Rabbits are one of the few animals that can legally be released on state game lands when they are live trapped.

Commercial repellants are generally not safe on food crops. Homemade sprays, while safer, are easily washed from the plants by rain and snow. Whether they work or not depends on the taste of individual rabbits.

According to Linda Wiles, the solution is to plant rabbit resistant plant. This reduces the food sources, which will reduce the rabbit population. Resistance is on a continuum with apples being rabbit candy and tomatoes being the least favorite fruit. Your tomatoes may disappear but it is usually groundhogs, deer or squirrels that are getting them.

There are plants that are questionable being eaten in some areas but not others. Plant them with caution.

Hollyhocks	Purple coneflowers
Crocus	English ivy
Sunflowers	Bluebells
Hyacinths	Cardinal flowers
Tulips

Favorite foods are:

Blue grass lawn	Berries
Wheat	Soy beans
Red clover	Alfalfa
Switch grass	Crabgrass
Clover	Plantain
Poison Ivy	Carrots
Oats	Sheep sorrel

Plants that are poisonous to humans or domestic animas are not necessarily toxic to rabbits. They consume many garden plants that are considered poisonous. The following normally poisonous plants are eaten by rabbits.

Monkshood	Lily of the valley
Daphne	Bleeding heart
Foxglove	Euphorbia
Iris	Nicotiana
Poppy	Rhubarb
Poison ivy, oak & sumac	Wisteria

Rabbit resistant herbaceous plants that are suitable for dry sunny areas are:

Artemesia	Butterfly weed
Euphorbia

Rabbit resistant herbaceous sun plants that are good for average to dry soil are:

Yarrow	Liatris
Santolina	Lamb’s ear
Zinnia	Yucca

The following herbaceous rabbit resistant plants like full sun and average soil:

Allium	Siberian iris
Miscanthus grass	Catmint
Salivia	Oregano

These rabbit resistant plants will take more moisture but still need full sun:

Hyssop	Coreopsis
French Marigolds

Plants for average soil with sun to part shade:

Snapdragons	Peonies
Bellflowers	Lemon balm
Veronica

These rabbit resistant plants will grow in sun to part shade in moist areas:

Lady’s Mantle	Bergenia
Bachelor button	Chrysanthemum
Lady bells	Daylily
Cleome	Grape hyacinth
Coral bells	Flowering tobacco
Spearmints

Herbaceous resistant plants for part shade, moist areas:

Foxglove	Brunnera
Forget-me-nots	Queen of the Prairie
Bleeding heart

Herbaceous resistant plants that will grow in moist full shade:

Wild ginger	Sweet woodruff
Lungwort	Foam flower

Widely adaptable plants that are rabbit resistant:

Ajuga	Jacob’s ladder
Liriope	Goldenrod hybrids

Resistant woody plants, evergreen trees :

American Holly	Blue spruce
Pinus flexilis	Pinus rigida

Resistant woody plant, evergreen shrubs:

Euonymus	Boxwood
Japanese holly	Taxus media (yew)

Resistant woody plants, deciduous trees:

Japanese maple	Alder
River birch	Tulip tree
Eastern redbud	Chestnut oak

Resistant woody plants, deciduous shrubs:

Buddleia	Hydrangea
Clematis	Mock orange
Weigela	Spirea

If you have a limited fenced in area these rabbit resistant vegetable can be planted outside the fence:

Artichokes	Asparagus
Tomatoes	Potatoes
Leeks	Onions
Squash