Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Rabbit's Bane

 Lavender.  I am not wild about the smell of lavender.  It reminds me of old ladies and the covering up of the smell of urine from the dribbles that happen with age.  I don't scent myself with lavender and generally avoid things that are scented lavender.

Hence, in my herb garden, I didn't plant any lavender.  The rabbits seem to be avoiding the mint, the sage and the oregano and eating the raspberries and blackberries in that back garden.  It is in the front flower garden I have the most trouble with rabbits.

I don't have much of a gardening vision.  I really like to experiment with a variety of things, flowering things.  I suppose that you might say I am going for an English country garden look, rather than a formal carefully tended flower bed.  But, I have abandoned petunias and lilies and hostas and a bunch of other flowers because the rabbits chew them down to the nubs.  I have had luck with yarrow, marigolds, daylilies, dianthus, forget me nots,  The rabbits apparently don't like the taste of those flowers.  

Recently I began to notice a lot of lavender in other gardens while on my walks.  I like the purple lavender flowers and the plant itself is not too bad for the English country garden look.  So, I tried some lavender.  The rabbits not only don't touch it, they leave the other nearby flowers alone. Success!  So, I have been adding lavender to my front walk.  The purple lavender contrasts nicely with the deep pink of my yarrow.

Now, if I would just clear at least some of the weeds out of the front garden, it might not look so derelict. But, aren't the weeds just misplaced flowers?

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