Planting Edmonds is a monthly column written by and for local gardeners.

Hello,

I’m Rachel the Roving Reporter, back again and with a friend. I am interviewing Sylvie the Rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) today and over the next several months. This is the year of the Rabbit and the year every local garden group is agonizing over the preponderance of rabbits in their gardens. Whether there has been a population boom is a question no one has answered.

Sylvie’s days tend to be very productive during the dusk and dawn of summer (rabbits are known to be crepuscular), so we had to stretch out this interview. Sylvie, tell me a bit about yourself.

“Let’s start with a photo. Here I am at 3 months – just like yesterday.  It was yesterday – oops.

Let me make one thing clear – I am not a rodent. Have not been for over 64.5 million years, never will be again. So, stop insulting me. As an Eastern Cottontail I am also deeply offended when I am called a hare. We are much more petite, averaging 2 to 4 pounds and 15-19 inches long. We are both in the family Leporidae but are separate species. We are rumored to taste much better. (What is a chicken?)

We have nicknames such as “forest snacks,” “bottom of the food chain” and “a salad bowl with a pelt.” But those are minor matters.

I believe I am about 3 months old since I just had my first “litter” of six kits. And if there are any bucks reading this, a gift tonight of young lettuce leaves will make you the father of the minute (or 20 seconds).

Because of the last mild, wet winter, our food has been plentiful and especially tasty. Flowers are not our first choice, especially zinnias, forsythia, lavender and snapdragons, but we love yummy grasses, roses, clovers, daisies, dandelions, kale, spinach, beans, broccoli and lettuce.

Oops, gotta hop, – I am feeling a little restless and want to bite things (especially bark).

(Two days later.) Well, I am back and ready to have my next litter in 29 days. (Note — a chicken egg takes 21 days to hatch. What is a chicken?) Just in time to graze even more and prepare a new nest with grasses and fur from my belly.

Where do we come from, you ask? Kansas and Missouri in 1927 – a dozen or two at a time. Why? For food, to train hunting dogs and to keep as pets. A few of us were eaten, a few died and the rest were let loose to survive if they could (could we ever!). The only relatives of ours you had in Washington were pygmy rabbits and picas. Within a few decades we numbered over 40,000. And we are not slowing down.

Gotta hop along – today is a celebration for Beatrix Potter and her 1902 publication of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. How do we celebrate? By eating from our favorite gardens of course. If only there were a farmer McGregor in Edmonds.

We squeak, purr, squeal and growl to communicate the date and location. (No, I will not give dates for anything. We don’t want to find our target garden behind a rabbit-proof physical barrier.)

What else do rabbits celebrate? Let’s start with Lewis Carroll’s bunnyful Alice in Wonderland in 1865. Every generation since has searched for that rabbit hole, alas. Then there was Bugs Bunny, who was created in 1940, Thumper educating Bambi in 1942, Harvey in 1950 (I never met a rabbit that tall), Playboy adopting the bunny as a logo (why were there never any rabbit pin-ups? After all, we can feed six to eight bunnies at a time), and finally in 1972, Watership Down (a rabbit horror story).

(Three weeks later.) My remaining kits left the nest at 15 days old. Half were lost to raptors, coyotes, dogs and cats. So, there are now only three left. We rabbits don’t like to cross streets. We leave that suicidal tendency to the squirrels.

Although it goes against S. floridanus ethics, I will reveal a few secrets about rabbit repellants. Please do not post this on social media…

Top (Pet-Friendly) Tips for Keeping Rabbits Out of Your Garden

• One suggestion is to surround your plant life with flowers that rabbits are known to dislike. Morning glories and marigolds are great natural deterrents. According to bunny experts, rabbits’ plant preferences are based on taste, nutritional value, the presence of poison or prickles, and ease of availability. Our tastes in food can also vary by region and season, so not all plants work for all rabbits. Be tricky and choose plants that rabbits don’t find very appetizing.
• Distract us with food. Provide an alternate source of food. One favorite gardener cuts up apple pieces and leaves them out for us. In return, we avoid eating her plants. Some people also plant a few extra seeds, veggies, and flowers just for us. But without labels, we still sometimes eat the wrong ones anyway. Note – rabbits cannot read.
• Milorganite Fertilizer. Some brands of fertilizer, like Milorganite, contain chemicals that are unpleasant to rabbits. Another name for biosolids. You try it sometime.
• Soap, specifically Irish Spring with its fresh aroma, is meant to work wonders, and it leaves our fur soft and shiny too.
• Plastic owl. One suggestion is to place a plastic owl in your garden to act as a scarecrow. Duh. We hop in front of them while eating carrots. No threat there. They can’t even swivel their heads.
• Cat fur. Wrap it around the plants to stop it from blowing away in the wind – we hate it. It makes us gag. I don’t know about dog fur and don’t want to.
• Blood meal. Blood meal is a natural product – it’s simply dried slaughterhouse waste. Rabbits really don’t like it, so sprinkle it around the plants to stop us from venturing close.
• Talcum powder or dried sulfur. Sprinkle it around the plant base and the ground nearby to stop those us in our tracks.
• Peppermint spray. Peppermint spray is easy to buy online and works as a safe, natural option to use around your plants. We actually like the scent.
• Cayenne pepper. Be careful, though, as cayenne pepper can be very irritating for dogs and cats, so if your pets are likely to sniff around the plants this is one solution to avoid. Even squirrels don’t fall for this gimmick, and they are really stupid.

In general, if it smells bad, we avoid it. However, a few of my comrades are eccentric and do like onions. Generally, if we are very hungry and it is not meat, we will eat it. Or at least sniff it.

 If you don’t want us to eat certain plants, try chicken-wire fencing. It should be 4 feet high, buried to a depth of 6 inches, with the top bent away from the target garden. A wire dome or cloche also works. We can easily chew through lightweight row covers and plastic netting. We chew on galvanized metal, but that is to keep our teeth from growing too long.

A terrible method of control is through the spread of disease. A visiting rabbit from Langley on Whidbey Island (she snuck onto a ferry) told me that currently, rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHDV) is decimating their local rabbit population. It has a 95% mortality rate within one to two days. It is no danger to humans but people can spread it. However, wiping out the rabbits impacts the predator populations as well as the endangered pygmy rabbit population, and could result in squirrels fighting birds at their feeders.

Yes, you can eat us. First, you have to catch us. In a recent experiment, a group of indigenous peoples, with the help and approval of the gardener, trapped and grilled a cottontail and served it with their local vegetables. It was said to be very good. We do not aspire to be on local menus, however.“

~ ~ ~

Thank you Sylvie for a most informative and friendly interview. You’re a lot less grumpy than your colleague, the Mountain Beaver. May your days be sunny, your tummy full, and may gardeners sacrifice a few plants for your holidays.

For gardeners: an All-in-One Homemade Rabbit Repellent (from no cookbook in my kitchen).

Mix the following in a 1-gallon tank sprayer:

• 2 beaten and strained eggs— strain them to remove the white strings surrounding the yolk which will plug up your sprayer)
• 1 cup milk, yogurt, buttermilk, or sour milk
• 2 tsp. Tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper
• 20 drops essential oil of clove, cinnamon, or eucalyptus
• 1 tsp. cooking or dormant oil
• 1 tsp. liquid dish soap

Top off the tank with water and pump it up. Shake the sprayer occasionally and mist onto dry foliage. One

application will last for 2 to 4 weeks in dry weather.

This homemade repellent was originally created to repel deer. However, WA Department of Fish & Wildlife found it

effective with wild rabbits as well.

An Extremely Brief History of Rabbits

The original rabbits came from the southern European mainland. They evolved millions of years ago on the Iberian peninsula. Phoenician merchants used to refer to this part of the world as “I-sephan-im” which means Land of the Rabbits.

Of the nine species of North American cottontail rabbits, it’s the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) that is our most abundant and annoying. Ranging from Boston to Boulder and south into Mexico, this bunny-about-town is rarely found in forests, preferring instead brushy fence rows, field edges, brush piles, and—you guessed it — landscaped backyards. Its fondness for flowers, vegetables, bark, and bulbs often results in pruned peppers and clipped cosmos.

As you can see, rabbits like leaves, stems, tree bark- especially oaks, magnolias and maples.

–– By Mary Monfort

Mary Monfort is a well-known Edmonds gardener, certified native plant steward, and backyard wildlife specialist.  She is an active member of multiple NW gardening organizations, helped establish the native plant demonstration garden, and has opened her own garden for the Edmonds in Bloom Garden Tour twice. In an earlier life she was a seismologist and helped build water trails. As an avid arts advocate, Mary has served on the Edmonds Art Commission and is currently on the board of the Edmonds Arts Festival Foundation. She manages the small EAFF gallery in the Frances Anderson Center.