Hmmmmm, where do I begin...
Ah, yes, an introduction to Peter himself (a real cutie alright)...


"Rotten"tail I say? Why, yes indeed. We had some lovely 'Bowles Black' violets for special butterfly visitors. DH and I woke up to a hole developing in a section of one of our gardens on the 3rd of July. By the 4th, the violets were disappearing quickly...AGH!


DH and I were quite frustrated with this little fellow...which I'm sure was laughing at the two of us poking and prodding the garden sections with the blunt end of a broom to try and coax it out from the cover of all the huge plants. We'd get it so it would be near the honeysuckle garden. Instead of taking the trip out to the front yard with all of our commotion, Peter would do a u-turn back into the west side of the huge garden and we had to "fish" and prod for it all over again. The Scarlet Runner Beans were another fav of his...Good Grief!
After a couple of hours of "Here we go around the Mulberry Bush...", we had to call it quits til this morning. The fireworks started going off at dusk and the little cutie (NOT) had no intention of making another move til morning anyway...What a pal!
Well, by this morning, there was almost no violets left...nearly all devoured...

That's it...this is war! DH and I spent today building a fence to close off the rest of the yard. DH had planned on having the rest of our privacy fence built to finally close off our backyard next Spring on the east side near the patio. This chicken wire fence will remain in place until Spring. It's not pretty by no means, but serves a purpose to keep Peter and all it's 5th cousins, twice removed out of our gardens!

For anyone who loves bunnies (I used to before gardening), and would like Peter or any of his pals, you can send me your addy and I'll box him up for you...
Hmmmmmmm...How I spent my 4th of July weekend...

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

I'll take Peter if you take Bambi.

Bambi just ate my crocosmia, jewelweed, tomato, roses, hosta, oakleaf hydrangea, lilac. Bambi has corrosive spit that causes dieback.

Faline sometimes doesn't eat my hostas. She leaves Bambi baby hidden under them while she destroys something else, like the peach trees.

Lisa
Central NJ/ z6b
Heat zone 5/6

Hello Lisa,

Sounds like a plan...got any good recipes for venison? DH tells me it tastes just like chicken...
I'm checking for any Alton Brown recipes now...

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

I'll take Peter and his cousins. but only if you take Alvin and the chipmunks

sarah merion station, Pennsylvania zone 6B

I already have PETER Cottontail and he must weigh about 20 lbs! He dug under our pvc privacy fence and I found him devouring my Cardinal Flower vines. Hope yours doesn't dig under the fense.............

Pam NJ 6B

Ya'll just brought to mind a favorite memory of my mom. Mom is a very sweet incredibly gentle loving person. But the bunnies in her garden made her blood boil. I remember one year she had been excitedly watching her cantelopes growing. She was looking forward to chowing down on one of the sweet melons. Told me she figured tomorrow would be the day! She also commented on the cute little bunnies that would sit at the edge of her garden and watch her work. Then the next day she was all but growling in frustration. Seems she went out to pick one of her melons that were at the height of perfection for eating and discovered a couple of bunnies sitting there making a feast of it. They continued to do this to her with every single melon she had on the 4 vines that year. Nope, she is definitely no longer a bunny lover. Mom lost speech in a stroke 5 years ago. But point out a bunny to her and she begins jabbering away and gesturing towards them and gradually the jabber drops down deeper until she is almost growling. I KNOW what she is thinking then.
dell

I don't dare let my daughter see this thread. She would take Peter, Bambi, Alvin, and any other critter in a heartbeat.lol

Linda
ne AL
zone 7b

Susan

I was wondering how long it was going to take you guys to decide to put up the chicken wire. I had to do the same thing here after the bunny devoured half my cardinal climbers and I had to replant those seeds, and my chicken wire will stay up too. Since then my plants are growing unbothered.

Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35

I feel your pain. My Lilium superbum are in a deer's stomach--or maybe they're in her mouth and she's chewing a cud of lily buds! This is supposed to be a hummingbird lily, and I was really looking forward to seeing them in bloom for the first time this year. I can't remember if I planted them last year or the year before, but I've been waiting impatiently, and they were on the verge. I can identify with the cantaloupe story. Seems like critters always go for the tallest, lushest plant, or eat the vegetable or fruit just before it will be harvestable at the peak of perfection.

I suppose I should have used the anti deer spray, but it smells absolutely awful--like rotten stuff! Thanks to the horrible smell it also attracts hordes of flies--yuk! Hmm, should I build a 12 foot electric fence around our yard and get a post office box? It would appear that I can't have lilies or Hostas. They are guaranteed deer food. They also chow down on a range of other stuff like Tithonia, Cuphea, and Impatiens.

Around about now I should be seeing a lovely splash of dancing, bright orange, nodding blossoms, right next to the fuzzy, purple Monarda, but I see only a shady hole with some lily leaves.

My condolences to you, Susan Louise, on your loss, and to everyone else, too, who is grieving.....

Susan Louise
I can sympathize with you as I try not to say awhh he is so cute! Remember I had my native columbine chomped to the ground overnight this spring. It did come back and it did bloom some but it has been chomped to the ground yet again. So far that is the only critter damage that I have.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

I feel for you Susan Louise. I have a bunny hanging around, but am not sure what he's doing. I have a chain link fence, but that doesn't stop him. I think he squeezes in through the gate but am not positive. I planted coneflowers this year. One arrived already blooming and the other two were not. One morning I woke up and the bloom looked like it had been cut off. It was on the ground though. No other blooms have come up. I'm not sure if they really haven't or if the bunny is chomping them at night. I don't know how to tell. I do look at them every day so surely I would notice a bloom. If the bunny is just chomping the plants at night, though, there won't be any blooms. Do bunnies like coneflower??

I did have a nice surprise this morning--proof that my hummer is still around. When I looked out the kitchen window there he was! I tried to slowly get my camera, but he must have seen me moving and flew away immediately. I'll keep trying though!

Carol

Carol R
Tennessee
USDA Hardiness Zone 7
Heat Zone 7

I can definitely understand your frustration but umm can't help but say how cute the lil fella is. lol Have to admit would love for you all to send me Peter, Bambi, Alvin, and any other critters, too. lol Can't help it, I love my flowers but love the lil critters, too.

Except lol if any of you want my squirrels you can have them. lol I have a bunny that visits quite often but has never done any damage but the squirrels are another story. I don't have any deer or chipmunks where I live but do realize they will damage things, too.

Here you go Susan!!! I caught this little theif tonight.

This is a Bluebery bush.






Pam NJ 6B

Bless you all for responding...love all of your posts!

Dell,
Thanks for sharing your story of your mother...


Pam,
We have a good sized one too...don't think it's a 20 pounder though...
I pray it doesn't make like a Bugs Bunny and digs a hole to get to the other side. DH has noticed a few of the family including the baby, Peter "Rotten"tail, hopping around the new fence and seen somewhat drooling at the sight of the prospects on the other side of the fence...
Love the pics...Hmmmmm...would draping a cheesecloth or netting help deter them from snatching your harvest of blueberries?

Sarah,
I'll have to get back with you on that offer...the chipmunks do look rather adorable in Pam's pics...

Linda,
Oh my...I completely understand. You can share this thread with her when she has gardens of her own someday...

Steve,
Well, I had been wondering if we would have problems. Surprisingly, last year we didn't have bunny problems in our gardens. We did have a few of them snatch seeds from the squirrel feeders in the winter though...
Glad to hear your Cardinal Climbers have been recovering from the feasts...hopefully the violets will recover here too.

Kristin,
You have such a colorful way of wording things...you're quite a writer and enjoy reading your posts.

"or maybe they're in her mouth and she's chewing a cud of lily buds!"

HA! Funny, but not funny...nearly spewed my coffee picturing that thought...
Thanks for sharing your woes from the deer in your area. Compared to you, I certainly feel like I shouldn't complain. I really feel the pain of you not having the chance to see your Hosta bloom...

Penny,
Thanks...
Since it's just the Columbine that seens to be chomped on, is there a way you can enclose it while allowing the hummers to have access? Or is that even possible? Hmmmmmm...guess the deer can hop over anything if they want to eat it?

Kathy,
Well, if we had 20 acres...land to have endless gardens to have enough plants for all the butterflies I want to attract...while allowing the bunnies/critters to have full range to eat to their hearts content, room for all the critters to have their own space, (tree, hole, bush, etc), then I'd be exactly where you are now in your thoughts...
Unfortunately, with less than 1/5th of an acre, something's gotta go...in this case, it's the bunnies...

Carol,
Yes, bunnies like coneflowers! Peter has left a trail of chewed off leaves from nearly every coneflower. I didn't panic about those since they are pretty big and hardy 2 year old plants. It seemed to feast on the violets like it was the best food on earth.
Glad to know you still have a hummer!

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

OMG I just love the picture of the chipmonk in Pam's blueberry bush LOL! That is priceless!

Susan Louise
I did enclose the columbine with a wire cage but whatever is eating it was agle to get through the cage...not a leaf left at this point but it was ok while it was blooming

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

AAAAAAAARGH! My Silene regias were hit again by the devil doe!!! Almost all of the buds and flowers were chomped off last night. Be warned, those of you who would like to add it to your garden. It is shaping into an all time deer favorite.

Thanks, Susan Louise, for your kind remarks. I enjoy your posts, too--lots of humor in them and great pictures of your garden. Fun reading. "Peter 'Rotten' tail?--sheer inspiration!

I can't stop thinking about that doe, blissfully chewing, jaws moving in that side to side circular motion, glimpses of green, chewed up lily bud mush in her mouth. I could take a video of that, set to the tune of Psycho. You've gotta laugh sometimes, and cry, too.

While staking the tomatoes in my little vegetable garden I discovered that some free-thinking mama bunny has her nest of babies INSIDE my fenced in garden. I'm just hoping that they'll do some weeding and fertilizing while they're in there and that they don't like plants in the nightshade family.

 

Kristin,

Thanks...
Well, on the bright side, you've had wonderful hummer company through it all...
It has been comforting to have our regular/resident Goldfinches dancing in the gardens and at their feeders. I had put out "fluff" balls for the females to encourage them to nest nearby. Earlier today I saw one of the females start taking some with her beak full to start building her nest. She had so much fluff before she flew off I wondered if it would hinder her flight pattern back to her nest site she picked out. Unfortunately I wasn't with camera in hand to capture the moment. Maybe I'll be lucky tomorrow. I knew they are one of the last birds to have a brood during the summer. All the books and info I read puts their nesting period in August. Guess this female was anxious to get the chore done, or she found a prime spot to have her nest and decided to get started and be ahead of the game...so to speak.
I'm also grateful for our various butterflies that have been visiting...even new varieties that have been surprising us...which has helped with filling in the void of having no hummers...probably til the end of August...again.

Linda,

Hmmmmm...hope you'll keep us updated on how that works out. You might get more than weeding and fertilizing out of that situation...especially with more than one bunny...a whole brood!
I think you will need to refresh your memory on the pic I posted above of what just one baby bunny did in our garden...it wasn't weeding, per say...it was mowing the garden!

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Here's a couple of pics of one of our female Goldfinches gathering fluff for her nest...




Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

I missed a shot of getting a pic of 3 female Goldfinches taking fluff from this ball all at the same time...

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Susan Louise that is really cool...what is the fluff? Is it something that you put out there for the birds to use?

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Hello Penny,

I got 3 of these cotton balls at our local wild bird habitat store back in the Spring. I didn't bother putting them out til late June because I knew that the Goldfinches have their broods later in the summer. Here's a link to some of the same ones I got locally. Maybe you can find a place that has them near you too. I just thought you'd like to see a variety too...
http://www.duncraft.com/Nesting-Materials-C43.aspx

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Thanks for the link Susan Louise. I've almost bought similar "fluff balls" at my local feed store. I think I will pick one or two up this weekend to try to encourage the goldfinches here! I just bought an extra large finch feeder. Maybe the fluff balls will help even more.

Carol

Carol R
Tennessee
USDA Hardiness Zone 7
Heat Zone 7

Hello Carol,

Glad I could help!
I just added some pics of our female Goldfinches gathering more/different materials. For you, or anyone else interested, here's the link from the Feathered Friends forum...
http://tinyurl.com/n6nyza


Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Thank you Susan Louise, I was wondering if that was an actual cotton boll and thought surely not as cotton doesn't grow in Nebraska LOL! I never thought about places actually selling the cotton bolls for the birds. That is pretty cool. Right now I have one of my suet cages full of dog hair.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39