Protecting flowers from rabbits is a common challenge, as these garden visitors can quickly decimate tender plants. The most effective long-term solution involves strategic plant selection. By choosing specific flowers that are naturally unappealing, you can significantly reduce the likelihood of rabbit browsing in your landscape.
Identifying Rabbit-Resistant Flowers
Incorporating perennial flowers known for their resilience helps maintain a colorful, protected garden space. Peonies are often ignored by rabbits due to their robust, mature foliage, allowing their large blooms to develop undisturbed. The Narcissus family, which includes Daffodils, is also reliable, as rabbits seldom touch their early spring blooms. Irises, particularly tall bearded varieties, present tough, blade-like foliage that rabbits find difficult to consume.
For annuals and tender perennials, effective options are available. Snapdragons (Antirrhinum) are often left alone despite their delicate appearance. Marigolds (Tagetes) are also known to deter rabbits, making them popular choices for edging flower beds. Plants like Foxglove (Digitalis) and Monkshood (Aconitum) are consistently avoided due to their unpalatable internal chemistry.
Other durable garden additions include Astilbe, which produces feathery plumes in shaded areas, and Yarrow (Achillea), known for its fern-like leaves and flat-topped flower clusters. Hardy Geraniums (Cranesbills) provide excellent ground cover and are rarely bothered by rabbits. These varieties combine hardiness with specific traits that make them undesirable food sources, allowing them to thrive even with high rabbit activity.
Characteristics That Deter Rabbits
The natural resistance of certain flowers is rooted in biological and physical defenses the plants have evolved. Primary deterrents include secondary plant metabolites, compounds that serve a protective function. Alkaloids and cardiac glycosides, for instance, are chemicals that give plants a bitter taste or are mildly toxic, signaling to herbivores that the plant is not a safe food source. Foxglove contains cardiac glycosides, which discourage consumption. Similarly, the bulb and leaves of Daffodils contain the alkaloid lycorine, which causes digestive upset if ingested, making the plant unappealing.
A second significant factor is the presence of strong, volatile aromatic oils, which overwhelm a rabbit’s sensitive sense of smell. Rabbits rely heavily on their olfactory sense to identify palatable food sources, and pungent scents can mask the appealing aroma of nearby, more desirable plants. Herbs like Lavender, Sage, and Catmint all contain these strong essential oils that rabbits find distasteful. Marigolds also produce a distinct, pungent aroma from their foliage that acts as a natural repellent.
Physical texture provides a third line of defense, making certain plants unpleasant or difficult to chew. Plants with fuzzy, hairy, or woolly leaves are often bypassed because the texture is unappealing to the rabbit’s mouth. Lamb’s Ears, with their dense, soft hairs, and the rough, coarse leaves of Coneflower are excellent examples of this textural defense. Furthermore, plants that develop tough, leathery foliage or woody stems, such as established Russian Sage, are physically more demanding to process, leading rabbits to seek softer, more tender vegetation elsewhere.
Variability and Environmental Factors
No flower is truly “rabbit-proof,” as resistance is a measure of palatability relative to other available food sources. Rabbit feeding behavior is highly selective, with animals generally preferring young, tender growth that is high in protein and easily digestible. They typically avoid older, tougher plant material and may even starve for a time rather than consume a completely unfamiliar or unpalatable food.
However, this selectivity is heavily influenced by environmental pressures and overall hunger levels. During periods of drought, deep snow cover, or extreme cold, a rabbit’s usual diet becomes scarce, forcing them to eat plants they would normally ignore. A plant considered resistant in spring, when food is abundant, may be consumed in late winter when the rabbits are desperate for any available green matter. This situational feeding means a resistant plant may still sustain damage under stressful conditions.
Regional differences in rabbit species and localized dietary preferences can also affect which plants are avoided. The maturity of the plant matters significantly; while a mature, woody-stemmed perennial is resistant, its newly emerging, soft spring shoots may still be clipped by a hungry rabbit. Gardeners often find that interplanting resistant flowers densely around more vulnerable plants can help to confuse or deter browsers by disrupting a clear line of sight and overwhelming the area with unappealing scents and textures.