Lime, I know exactly what you mean. LOL I was trying to be kind with my parameters. Anyways, I don't think they will survive though. My hubby found the nest when he was raking leaves. It was buried under leaves and some weed grass. His raking sort of dragged out 2 of the babies and moved all of the covering over the nest. One of the babies sort of scooted off and the other one was barely able to walk. May have been to young to walk well or injured by the rake. We weren't going to try and move them back to the nest as we have been alerted by the police that there are rabid animals roaming around the area, including rabbits that have come in contact with rabid wild critters. As of 8:30 this evening, no mother rabbit had returned to the nest and no idea what happened to the babies. Guess I will find out later today when I go outside. What I know for sure is that I don't need a bunch of rabbit babies inside a chain link fenced yard area where all my WS seedlings are. They are not there for "baby munching". I have enough trouble with rabbits, chipmunks and groundhogs as is, in my flower beds. This addition I didn't need. On the other hand, I have a family of hawks living on the house side of the edge of our woods, right outside this fenced in area. It may be very hard for any of these youngin's to survive this year. And the very last thing I need is to have tons of holes in my yard, dug my rabbits breeding and chipmunks having a good time, and fall in them or catch my foot in one. That does not go well with past spinal surgery and another spinal surgery coming up in June. Fran

This is my first year having Dahlias - and I'm really diggin' em! For your hummers, how about some red-flowering Cannas? And I've got your Golden Jubillee Augustache (seed), and maybe some Dragon Arum tubers? I may be able to tuck in some young Kalanchoe plants also, and Jerusalem Artichoke tubers if you like. I always have lots of seed for German Chammomile, which grows nicely in around other tall plants...and alyssum seed for edges. Just let me know if you are interested. (Lots of veggie seed too...) Julie, in Portland

The BEST thing you can do is to alert your neighbors to the horrible things cats do to wildlife. Let them know you have baby bunnies. There are a few good websites with great information you could print off. Some people will listen and some wont. Those that wont need to be told that you will not tolerate cats on your property. Let them know that you intend to capture any trespassers and take them to the pound. Of course none of this is the Cats fault, they are just being cats. I would never really take them to the pound, if they let their cats roam they probably wouldn't pay to get it back and the cat may be put down. Find a cat rescue group in your area. Cats deserve a safe loving home and a warm lap. I will ask a few folks to post those good websites here for you . For now the best thing you can do is stay away from the bunnies so you don't draw attention to them or leave a scent trail.

I specifically came to this forum today to post about the great time I'm having with MY new baby bunny! It's working out much better than I thought it would. I was driving to the post office or somewhere, and some little boys walking down my road, one holding the bunny, called out, 'Want a free rabbit?' 'No,' I said. But, on my way home, they were STILL walking around with the rabbit, and I realized that they probably had a problem regarding what to do with it. Turns out that their relative bought it and couldn't keep it, had turned the bunny loose in the wild, but it had been hanging around still. I knew I still had a bunny cage and some supplies, and this little bunny looked like he had such a sweet disposition...so, I said, 'Okay,' on second thought, and took the bunny. I take him outside and let him munch in the garden, and he seems to enjoy listening to classical music. Lives on the porch for now, but will be inside in the winter, in a new bunny house that I've ordered. I never thought I'd want a rabbit, because they seem contrary to good gardening -- if you want a crop of nice herbs or flowers. But, for me, a rabbit is actually a companion and sympathizer, and I appreciate that he likes the oregano that I don't know what to do with right now, and so on!!! I prefer to let animals remain in the wild, but, this bunny was already tamed, and since he was removed from family and friends, I didn't know if he'd find a way to survive our very tough winters and so on.