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How to Identify and Get Rid of Rabbits in the Garden

The eastern cottontail rabbit can be a pesky garden companion, so here are tips to help keep him away!

Controlling the Rabbit Population in your Yard

Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Got rabbits? These small mammals can do a number on young plants, so prevention is paramount. Aside from fencing, there are many old-time remedies and other solutions that will keep them out of the garden patch! Plus, see a list of plants that rabbits tend to ignore. 

Why Would You Keep Rabbits Away?

Anyone who tills the soil regards the rabbit as more than just a cute threat to the carrot patch. This long-eared animal possesses a voracious appetite for all kinds of fresh vegetation—woody plants, perennials, annuals, vegetables, and berries. In fact, a menu of rabbit favorites is so ridiculously long that it’s easier to list the few plants they don’t enjoy.

Rabbits also have an extremely high reproductive potential, so keeping them around might quickly cause a total garden infestation. They can produce up to three litters of six babies per year in the north and up to six litters of three babies yearly in the south. The first litter appears in March in the north, year-round elsewhere. The gestation period is 29 days. That’s only about 8 days more than a chicken egg takes to hatch!

Your backyard bunny’s primary concern is to eat without being eaten, a difficult task given that rabbits are relished by more than two dozen species of predators. Nibbling your petunias is not a carefree picnic but a danger-fraught mission. However, if your neighborhood bunny can squeeze through a hole in your garden fence, it will find time to be able to munch in safety. 

You can check our tips for keeping your plants safe from rabbits, but try to regard rabbits as Beatrix Potter did—part of a peaceful, pastoral landscape. Then protect the plants that you and the bunnies really love, and don’t worry about the rest.

eastern cottontail bunnies in the yard

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Identification

How to Identify Rabbits in Your Garden

Of the nine species of North American cottontail rabbits, the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) that is our most abundant and annoying. Ranging from Boston to Boulder and south into Mexico, this bunny-about-town is rarely found in forests, preferring instead brushy fence rows, field edges, brush piles, and—you guessed it—landscaped backyards. Its fondness for flowers, vegetables, bark, and bulbs often results in pruned peppers and clipped cosmos.

Even though its nicknames are adorable (among them bunny, bunny rabbit, and cottontail), and you’ll probably want to befriend it once you see its cute ears, the eastern cottontail can be a bothersome pest. It is gray or brownish, with a short tail and big ears. It can weigh 2 to 4 pounds, be 15 to 19 inches long, and live for 12 to 15 months. Its vocal call is almost silent, but it will emit a scream when threatened. Its famous features include a short white tail resembling a cotton ball and long, tapered ears.

Security is a pile of brush, leaves, or another animal’s abandoned burrow for an eastern cottontail. Unlike their European cousins, these rabbits do not dig intricate burrows or warrens but make do with what they find. Rabbits rarely leave their shelters in broad daylight, preferring early morning or evening instead. Like most animals, they are sensitive to the change in day length as spring approaches. For rabbits, the longer days signal the start of two things: breeding season and spring dining.

Rabbit Damage

Rabbits are voracious eaters and leave clean-cut damage. Check the leaves and stems of your plants for cleanly cut damage; insects and other pests usually leave jagged edges on damaged plants. This clean-cut damage often happens at ground level, as rabbits tend to eat the yummy green shoots of tulips and other plants.

These low mowers graze close to the ground, sniff out the first tender young shoots, and crop them short. They love to munch on flowers, clover, peas, lettuce, beans, and more. Many of these plants are also the favorites of woodchucks or groundhogs, so check for burrows before deciding you have rabbit damage. Once your plants have passed the seedling stage, they are usually safe from rabbit damage.

Although bunny nibbling occurs in every season, it’s especially discouraging in the early spring when rabbits mercilessly munch the tender green shoots of plants. As a Connecticut gardener remembers, “My tulips were just poking through the snow when suddenly it looked like they’d been weed-whacked. Cut clean off! I blame the bunnies—their little paw prints were everywhere.”

a rabbit sitting in the grass

Cute, yes. But behind those eyes lies an eternal hunger!

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Control and Prevention

How to Prevent Rabbits in the Garden

The best way to keep rabbits out of the garden and prevent rabbit damage is through physical prevention methods such as fencing. Though we’ve mostly been discussing eastern cottontails, remember that these tips should work for any type of rabbit that loves to munch on your plants!

  • The most effective way of keeping out rabbits is chicken wire fencing. Install a fence that is 4 feet high and bury it at least 6 inches deep. Bend the top foot of the fence away from the garden like a security fence so they can’t climb or jump over it.
    • For bulbs, try a dome or cage of chicken wire secured over the bed.
  • To begin with, focus on keeping rabbits from setting foot into your garden. Many old-time remedies rely on spreading various products around the garden’s perimeter, such as dried blood meal or human hair. Sprinkle dried blood meal on the surface around all your plants as early in the season as possible, and repeat after heavy rain. (Note: If you have dogs, don’t try this method because they might be attracted to the scent and start digging up your garden themselves!)
  • Rabbits don’t like to stray far from their shelters, so try to reduce the possible rabbit homes around your yard. Rake away piles of brush and leaves, fill in abandoned burrows, and seal any holes under sheds or structures. If a rabbit doesn’t have a place to live or hide nearby, hopefully, it won’t stay and munch. Rabbits will also breed much more if they have a good habitat available—all the more reason to have no vacancy!

More Ways to Deter Rabbits in the Garden

Hardware

As mentioned above, the most effective solution is wire fencing. But also:

  • Protect tree trunks: Use cylinders of 1/4-inch mesh hardware cloth to keep rabbits from nibbling on young fruit and landscape trees. The cylinders should extend higher than a rabbit’s reach while the rabbit is standing on the expected snow depth, and they should stand 1 to 2 inches out from the tree trunk.
  • Protect patio plants: Some people protect plants with individual “collars” of tin cans or screening so that the plants may reach a less vulnerable size. Put the collar around each stem for protection.

Repellents

  • Rabbits are such great sniffers, and there are several commercially available rabbit-repellent sprays that are nontoxic. They often use smelly ingredients such as rotten eggs to deter the furry creatures. Commercial products using pungent garlic oil are also worth a try.
  • Some of the deer techniques related to odor are also said to work against rabbits.
  • Irish Spring soap shavings placed in little drawstring bags around the garden have been said to help keep rabbits away.
  • Rabbits also dislike the smell of onions, so try planting onions around your garden to further deter the furry creatures.
  • One of our readers grows extra hot peppers, boils them in an old soup pot on the BBQ, and applies the liquid to the garden. Powdered red pepper sprinkled around the garden or on targeted plants also helps; you need to reapply after rainfall.
  • Legend has it that rabbits are terrified of their own reflection, so try an old-time rabbit remedy and place large, clear glass jars of water throughout the garden. Garden centers sell ready-made reflectors, as well as other devices—crouching cats, fake snakes, menacing owls—designed to frighten bunnies away from your plants.
  • You can also make your own spray! See recipe.

DIY Rabbit Repellent Spray

Make a bad-tasting rabbit cocktail by grinding together:

  • 3 hot peppers
  • 3 large onions
  • 1 whole bunch of garlic. 

Add water to cover, and place in a covered container overnight. Strain and add enough water to make a gallon of the mixture. Spray onto plants, repeating after rainfall. 

rabbits in the grass

Plants That Rabbits Dislike

According to bunny experts, rabbits have plant preferences based on taste, nutritional value, the presence of poison or prickles, and ease of availability. Their tastes in food can also vary by region and season, so not all plants work for all rabbits. Be tricky and tend plants that rabbits don’t find very appetizing.

Rabbits tend to avoid some of the same plants as deer and Japanese beetles. If you’d like to control all these pests, check our list of deer-resistant plants and the best and worst plants for Japanese beetles to know which plants might do best. Choose plants such as forsythia, lilac bush, zinnias, daffodils, lavender, and snapdragons for rabbits. This might help to reduce your rabbit population. This is not a guaranteed solution, as hungry rabbits will eat almost anything, but filling your garden with these plants might make your garden less appetizing than another one. Here are more plants that rabbits dislike:

WOODY PLANTS

Azalea (Rhododendron sp.)
Boxwood (Buxus sp.)
Bush cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa)
Butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii)
Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster sp.)
Japanese maple (Acer palmatum)
Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia)
Rhododendron (Rhododendron sp.)
Tatarian dogwood (Cornus alba)
Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)

PERENNIALS

Adam’s needle (Yucca filamentosa)
Creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera)
Foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia)
Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina)
Meadow rue (Thalictrum rochebrunianum)
Peony (Paeonia hybrids)
Perennial salvia ‘East Friesland’ (Salvia x superba)
Primrose (Primula x polyantha)
Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ (Sedum)
Speedwell (Veronica sp.)
Spring cinquefoil (Potentilla verna)
Stokes’ aster (Stokesia laevis)

ANNUALS

Four o’clock flower (Mirabilis jalapa)
Geranium, zonal and bedding (Pelargonium x hortorum)
Mexican ageratum (Ageratum houstonianum)
Spiderflower (Cleome hasslerana)
Vinca (Catharanthus roseus)
Wax begonia (Begonia x semperflorens-cultorum)

BULBS

Daffodil (Narcissus sp.)
Hyacinth (Hyacinth orientalis)
Persian onion (Allium giganteum)

VEGETABLES

Asparagus
Leeks
Onions
Potatoes
Rhubarb
Summer squash
Tomatoes

HERBS

Basil
Marjoram
Mint
Oregano
Parsley
Savory
Tarragon

Do you have any tips for controlling rabbits in your garden or yard? Please post below!

Garden Pests
About The Author
Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the website companion of The Old Farmer's Almanac. She covers gardening, plants, pest control, soil composition, seasonal and moon c...
Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Lonnie G</span> Tue, 10/13/2015 - 14:56
I too have an over abundance of rabbits, so many that even the coyotes, owls and hawks are full. I didn't have so many when I had my cat. I need to get another one. He was a good mouser/rabbit'er'/ mole'er', etc. That and a fence seems to be the only sure measure on our country property.
<span>Ron M.</span> Mon, 05/06/2013 - 13:51
Yep, I planted marigolds in my front flower garden and the family of rabbits that live in my yard ate half of them two days after I planted the young plants. The war is on! :)
<span>James09</span> Tue, 01/31/2012 - 12:08
if you have a 4 legged critter attacking your garden, to me that's a 3 or 4 course meal just waiting to be cooked! Take advantage of that & the pest problems will disappear.
<span>Jessicashaw1982</span> Sun, 05/29/2011 - 19:44
I'm not sure what it is that is getting into my garden, but I found a pile of pea pods under my pepper plants. It has to be something that climbs since i have a fence up. And whatever it is, climbed up onto my hanging tomato and ate a cucumber. I'm tempted to put a camera out. The blood repelant doesnt seem to be working at all. Suggestions?
<span>Ashleyz458</span> Wed, 04/29/2015 - 16:37
if you plant cucumbers with the spikes still on them, the rabbits will most likely stop eating them.
<span>Lil</span> Sat, 03/19/2011 - 20:33
I have heard/read to sprinkle human hair around the perimeter of garden.( see your hairdresser) Also a motion detector light will scare the coons and critters. Human urine( your little boys will help) around perimeter. Nasturtiums in the holes of cinderblocks around the garden help avoid aphids. Plant tomatoes in 1/2 of cinder blocks and fill 1/2 block with 8-8-8. the fertilizer leaches the lime from the cinder block and this also helps avoid cutworms. Put castor beans in mole holes. They love them and it will kill them. Be careful handling Castor beans, use gloves, they are toxic.
<span>Maplady</span> Wed, 03/02/2011 - 00:50
If you have dogs, springtime means brushing /combing out winter coats. Try placing those fluffy clumps of their hair from the brush around the perimeter of your garden, also works for birds at the berry patch.
<span>Steven Vaughn</span> Sun, 02/27/2011 - 22:50
Hang Wind chimes to scare the deer an Pie Tins tied on a string on the bean trelis or fence works well on rabbits,squirrel's an Birds.
<span>Teddy</span> Mon, 09/27/2010 - 12:30
Ways to control rabbits: 1. find their warren and plant a small garden for their use. When the babies are born the adults will not like to travel far to get food and they may leave your garden alone in early spring. Figure out the preference of the rabbits and plant only that in their garden. 2. Fencing is fine but it can be cumbersome and expensive. Interplant the prickly vine veggies (vine squash, pumpkin, vine zucchini etc.) throughout your garden. The rabbits dislike the prickers on the vines and in general will not pass through them to get to your beloved veggies in the center. This interplanting is very successful in the northeast where the research and experimentation was implemented and the entire garden interior was left alone while the veggies along the edges of the garden were nibbled. 3. Plant a living fence of raspberries, black berries around the garden edges and tie them down to the ground to create a prickly barrier. This must be done around the ENTIRE garden and will make getting into the garden difficult for the gardener but worth the effort if you have any rabbits, dogs, or other animals such as deer. 4. Plant an aroma barrier of chives, garlic chives, walking onions or seed onions. For some reason potatoes and rhubarb also work as an aroma deterrent. A combination of all four of the suggestions above was the most successful but using only 1, and 4 of the suggestions above also proved successful. 5. Fox urine, dog and chickens feces can also be a deterent when spread around the perimeter of the garden. The problem with this type of deterrent is that it has to be re-applied after a rain or watering the garden. Blessings!!!!
<span>Tess</span> Sun, 05/22/2016 - 17:41
The leaves of nightshades (tomato, potato, eggplant, peppers, nicotiana) are toxic, as are the plants which contain a lot of oxalates, like rhubarb leaves and pokeweed. It might just be that old, traditional varieties of marigold, onion, etc are more objectionable to pests -- modern varieties are frequently bred to be more mild and sweet. ... Just a thought!