Carla Emory has a couple of paragraphs about home-grown rabbit food: "The old-timers who wintered their rabbits on food they'd grown themselves fed them such things as stock beets and cabbage in winter as well as their grain and hay. So can you. Pea and bean vines can be cured like hay and make an excellent hay substitute or supplement. "In season, rabbits like anything green, but you must be careful not to feed them plants that are outrightly poisonous, such as chokecherry or rhubarb leaves, or potato peels with sprouts or the ones that have been in the sun long enough to get even the slightest touch of green. Other greens are only mildly poisonous in the uncooked state such as pigweed, amaranth greens, spinach, comfrey, and Swiss chard--but for a creature with a small body weight like a rabbit, especially a young rabbit, these can be a problem too. Much of the reason that people develop a fear of growing their own rabbit food, or have had bad experiences with home feeding of rabbits is that they don't understand how very many greens, wild or domestic, are not fully safe to feed rabbits, and which are. Before feeding a leafy green or herb for the first time, check the list under "Edible for Rabbits" below, to see if there is a warning of any sort about it. Stick to feeding them human-type salad greens unless you know for sure a wild one is safe. If cooking is advised for a green or category of greens (the amaranth family), don't feed it to rabbits who, of course, would be eating it raw. If it's in the least toxic, don't feed it to them. If it might have chemical residues in it, don't feed it to them. "I plant extra rows of lettuce for them. And when I weed in the summer, I take along a bucket to put the pulled edible weeds for rabbits. Feeding this way you never have to buy a rabbit pellet and they do fine. When fed home-grown stuff, they'll grow a little slower (and more normally) to that 2-lb. butchering size. But it's far cheaper, and I have organic meat because conception on, they've been nourished with home-grown foods and greens, or hay and grain from a source I know is chemical-free. "Vegetables/Greens/Fruits: A combination of grains is better than a single one. A combination of veggies and greens plus grain and hay is better yet. Let your rabbits do some of the picking and choosing. They'll choose what they need. They'lll love much of what you offer of this sort, and it's a nice way to tame them--hand-feeding them some veggie treats. For pregnant and nursing does, variety is especially important. Offer the vegetables or leafy greens in season (the longer the season, the better). Garden and kitchen vegetables and fruit scraps can be included also, as long as they're not on the unhealthy list. If you're just starting to supplement a rabbit's diet in this way, go slowly at first until your bunny gets used to it. Limit what you feed so that surplus doesn't rot in the cage. Rotting surpluses are good for chickens or pigs, but not rabbits. In fact, rabbits can get sick from eating partly spoiled greens. Garden vegetables for rabbits, as for people, are mostly water. Greens are water plus lots of minerals and vitamins. Root vegetables are higher in energy supplied, lower in the mineral-and-vitamin department."

Kathleen, After growing cannas for many years along with cottontail rabbits living amongst them, I can only say they do not eat cannas by choice. Now, if the only succulent green thing available is a canna, your desert rabbit may be forced to give them a try. For most of us, rabbits typically are not a problem. Kent

I have a rabbit in my fenced-in garden. We had strung chicken wire onto the bottom of the chain link, all around, as we discovered the rabbits were squeezing thru the chain link, and it got into the garden when it was small enough to get thru the holes in the chicken wire. Now it's too big for that, won't run out thru the gate when I leave it open, makes a U-turn and goes the other way when I chase it. If you can set those bunnies free, do it, they can munch on grass and other stuff you won't want them to munch on and they will survive. They are tough. If a predator gets it, Honey, I'm sorry, but it's nature's way and everything has to eat.

Do you mean flower color? I enjoy snapdragons, sweetpeas if you get them in early, first October, dianthus and other annuals. Scabiosa butterfly blue and gailardia bloom nearly all year. Hellebores begin in January. My mini shrub roses bloom into January. Sasanqua camelias begin to bloom late October and go into January; you get most of the bloom before the rains start. There are others. I think with the winds you just need to make sure you have a bit of shelter for the annuals.