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Do rabbits eat violets?

15 years ago

Last year I tried a few things in a half sun/half shade area. Rabbits ate many of them: primrose, lamium, polemonium. This year I am trying violets. Hmmm....they seem a little weary already. Do rabbits eat violets?

Do you have suggestions in addition to cranesbill and daylilies for half sun that rabbits dislike?

Featured Answer

jack99

15 years ago

do rabbits eat wild violets? If so I'm gonna buy me a few! Anyone know of anything that will really kill violets? The blasted things are taking over everywhere. I'm convinced that sooner or later they'll clamber up my deck, run through the back door and take root in my living room rug!

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Comments (7)

gardengirl_17
15 years ago
In my experience yes. I have a couple of violets in a shady nook and the rabbits eat them all the time. When I have time I spray them and the hosta with a water & egg mixture and that seems to stop them. The little buggers! I have not had any problems with rabbits eating Lady's Mantle, Heuchera, foxglove , bleeding heart, Hakone Grass or Columbines or Brunnera and all of these would grow in a part sun/part shade area.
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quilt_mommy
15 years ago
I'm not sure but I do know they do eat violas and pansies...and also star flowers. Lol* Those hugry little buggers! :)
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- She often barks at me to get me to go into another room. - She demands 1 1/2 to 2 mile walks 3-4 times a day. - She will hold out for days to get the food she wants. - Last Fall she dragged me downhill into a tree (squirrel) and my knee was swollen and numb for three months. - If there is a fly in the house she runs after it and onto furniture (no, no) and barks so the lamps vibrate until either she or I kill it. - Frightens the neighbors or passersby by barking at them. If they come over she licks them. If they keep going she keeps barking. - She wakes me up at 5:30 or 6 every morning. - She barks, if that doesn't work then talks to me and as a last resort comes over and puts her head on my lap and looks up at me until she gets exactly what she wants. - She will come and sit at attention just out of reach to make me lean toward her and then she turns and heads off leading me to what she wants. Look at her dish....food. Stop short of the door, look for leash....walk. Nose up to the door...wants out on the deck. Front door....open it to look out of the storm door and guard the house. Finished her water and wants more. - Berserk....squirrel, raccoon, turkey, groundhog (especially), cat, dog, bike, bee, snake....... Should I go on?
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MissMyGardens
15 years ago
As said above, a big YES...LOL.

If rabbits don't get them the groundhogs/deer will.

They keep taking bites off the Columbine but don't like them so I find the little stems with leaves still attached in other parts of the yard. Either the same one(s) is lacking memory or there are so many of them everyone has to take a little bite to see if it's an acquired taste like deer groups do.

Lamium, Foxglove, Lobelia Cardinalis, Heuchera, Hakone Grass, Dwarf Goatsbeard are things I have in long narrow bed that gets only midday sun once trees have leafed out. Along the back of the bed I have bulbs like Daffodils, etc. for spring bloom when it's getting full sun and some Alliums which bloom around June before other things are too large.

Adding some Alchemilla Mollis & Salvia Coral Nymph this year. This Salvia is reported shade tolerant if it gets some sun so I'll try it.

Hard to find things for shade with blooms that rabbits, deer and/or groundhogs don't eat. That still leaves the slugs but I just accept I have to spread unsightly pellets around things or they're going to be eaten.

Violets, especially the native ones, are so pretty...but not where critters are just going to eat them. Hanging baskets, containers up on a deck or somewhere like that is the only somewhat safe place.
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User
Original Author
15 years ago
They don't eat the wild violets. Those things are nearly impossible to get rid of and they spread like wildfire.

Rabbits over here ate the lamium too. I'm going to try some heuchera this year or next. DH is not going to be happy that I picked yet another thing that they eat. I'm mostly going to stick with the cranesbill and daylilies.

I wish they would eat the foxglove, the little buggers.
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Fledgeling_
15 years ago
Rabbits eat spruce and pine needles and twigs around here... so plant it anyways because they will eat anything and everything.
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athenainwi
15 years ago
Last fall I planted three violets. The rabbits ate one of them so completely that I couldn't find any trace of it. The other two were sheared to the ground. They all seem to be coming back this spring though.
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