Ken, you called it. ==>>> you are welcome .... lol ... no.. wrong answer ... i mean.. translating it to YOU WERE RIGHT ... i cant hear that enough.. around my own house... lol .. so i have to get it from you guys... welcome to reality ... rabbits are vermin ... and not to be encouraged ... as i previously said.. so i will not repeat it ... mine all worked above the snow.. your history of them tunneling under snow.. makes no sense ... mine also girdled shrubs ... striping the bark.. not eating the center wood on a variety of stock .... again.. you confuse me ... i have a lot of damage... now that the snow is gone.. 2 or 3 feet up a branch/trunk ... where they worked their magic ABOVE the snow line ... i have what used to be a 5 foot paladin lilac .. dwarf huh??? ... that is about 8 feet wide.. now half is 5 feet tall .. the other 3 feet ... lol .. no flowers on the shortened stuff ... and they did eat it all on that ... i wouldn have thought deer damage.. but i didint see any tracks in the deep snow ... or it was done before the snow.. and i missed it .... but the upside is.. that you are going to learn about what i mean when i say that most of what you planted.. you can run them over with the truck ... you cant kill most of these things ... as i recall you not having anything that foo foo ... so tell hubby.. to suck it up.. and trim everything effected to about 3 to 6 inches.. and watch how mother nature responds ... with no insult to the root system.. you might be pleasantly surprised how well everything responds... growing to near the same size by fall ... this is the next prediction.. and i will look for the 'you were right' post in fall ... lol .. and try to contemplate.. anything lost ... is a planting hole for something new... and while you are at it ... may as well dig out the burning bushes ... as apparently they are fodder.. and irritating.. not to mention that which you dont want to hear about .... sometimes.. regardless of your wishes.. certain plants just arent worthy ... of the space provided ... look forward to the pix.. i am guessing.. they are not going to be as bad as you think they are ... yesterday i cut down a 10 by 15 foot shrub... to 6 inches.. i have no worries.. it will come back ablazing .... though i will miss its flower show.. but the other 20 of them..will take care of that ... ken ps: and tell hubby.. who cares what the neighbors think.. we dont garden for them ... live and learn.. its all a learning curve ....

Do a search for "bridge grafting pine trees". This is a common, not difficult, method used for trees girdled by rabbits.

The stuff at the school is all mixed together in a big concrete bin. I guess if I was lucky I might be able to just select the good stuff if i got there at just the right time. I just bought 12 cubic yards of mostly sawdust mixed with horse manure and a little straw. My biggest problem now is flys. I almost don't want to go work in my garden now because they are so annoying. I spread about six cubic yards arounds the bases of my fruit trees and some around the plants in my garden. The other six yards is sitting in a big pile in my backyard next to my garden. How long before the manure stops attracting them? How do you wet the inside of the pile down. I spray water on the pile every night but it only penetrates about two inches. Maybe I have to make a depression on the top of the pile and spray several hundred gallons of water onto it. Its getting pretty dry and the temperature is down to about 135 degrees.

When I first started gardening (many years ago) I watched chipmonks come through and eat every single tulip bud just before they bloomed. Then the rabbits came in and munched happily on all my newly planted apple trees. After that the mice came and ate every single african marigold I had been growing for two months in my greenhouse. It was time to fight back! We now have two labs patroling the grounds during the day, and I use rabbit and deer repellent around the base of any new trees, and around the borders of all my flower gardens. It smells like an old outhouse when you first apply it, but once it dries, the odor is hardly detectable, and I've not lost a plant that I've sprayed in a couple of years. The best part is that I was able to remove all the chicken wire I had all over the yard, and the stuff only needs to be applied about every couple of months. It's expensive, but it seems to work. I think the active ingredient in the one I use is coyote urine. Good luck. Colleen