Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tame Your Passion (vines)
Get more bunnies.
After they've finished the sweet peas, morning glories, dill, rudbeckia, and asters (a favorite), they'll turn their attention to the passion vines. But they're so cute when they're little.
Labels: critters, NoVA, passiflora, rabbits
15 Comments:
They are cute, we had a litter born in our back yard this spring. It was right after we'd bought this house so I didn't have any plants to worry about yet. But after they left the yard and I got lots of flowers and veggies growing back there, I no longer thought of them as cute lol.
I found one in the yard a few days ago, and in the process of chasing it out (away from my ripening green beans!) I realized it was injured. I felt awful, but couldn't let it stay back there. It's now living in my front flower bed. That's fine. No veggies there. I don't even mind that it's munching on the plants it's hiding behind (which is not so smart if you ask me lol) as long as it stays out of the back. Hubby even takes it little bits of carrots bc he feels bad for the little thing. I do too, I really do... but my gardener's instinct just couldn't give up my very first veggies to a bunny even if it is hurt. I've never grown veggies before, other than the occasional tomato or pepper. So I'm selfish and mean, but my green beans are safe and the bunny still found a safe place to hide.
I haven't seen a rabbit here in Austin, Entangled - you and Carol keep me from missing them!
My passion vine was planted in 2005. For two seasons it has had all the leaves devoured by caterpillars of the Gulf Frittilary, and hasn't flowered. The caterpillars are late this summer - maybe the vine can outrun them long enough for a bloom or two to open. I hope yours recovers!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Marvie: Oh, I'm really glad I don't have to confront the ethical dilemma of what to do with an injured rabbit, and I'm so sorry you do have to. I have no idea what I'd do. Probably what you're doing. Hope your beans are tasty!
Annie: And I'm really glad I'm not chasing (trapping) rabbits out of vegetable garden the way Carol is. Although I do wish they hadn't chewed off the morning glories - I'm going to miss those.
I'm of two minds about the passion flower. The flowers are so fascinating, but the plant is such a territorial thug. The stems the bunny was eating were some of the shoots that sprung up a looooong way from the "mother" plant. I've still got plenty to spare. Rob told me about the fritillaries going for the vines when he lived in Florida, but I haven't noticed any kinds of fritillary on them here.
You have a hungry rabbit there. I would have never thought they would eat passion vines! So far having a fox around has turned out to be not a bad thing. I haven't seen the groundhog since the foxes arrived and had very little loss of vegetation to rabbits. The deer unfortunately still make their rounds.
Ki: And that's just the little bunny. I haven't seen his/her mom/dad for a while. We've had rabbits around here for years, but I think they were doing fine eating the next door neighbors' weeds (and the occasional plant from my garden). But last fall, a new tennant moved in with two dogs, and she's been keeping the lawn mowed (something that hasn't happened for years over there). I think the bunnies have found a happier home with me now. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a fox for a long time.
Yes, another "critter" blog labler. Boy that is a cute one. We had 2 little ones that liked to hang out in the drive. Now I'm seeing only one though. So cute (& so outside the garden).
When I put in my mom's flower bed this year (I plant annuals for her for Mothers Day every year), there were three little teenage bunnies who were NOT SHY about hovering around, waiting for us to finish planting their buffet. But, they've been good -- so far they've not destroyed everything in that bed. Here's hoping they like the taste of weeds better than petunias and salvia!
This is a banner year for rabbits here in Iowa, I have never seen so many of the little critters.
Awwwww, wabbits, they are soooooo cute. I used to have a wabbit when I was 4, but come Christmas my dad killed the rabbit while I was asleep. My parents told me that my rabbit had run away but on Christmas evening I found my rabbit on my plate. Apparently my parents expected me to eat my little wabbit. Right, that was so NOT going to happen. Instead I cried for hours and so did my little brother. In the end my mum couldn't eat the rabbit either so my dad had to eat it all. Merry Christmas or something!
Sorry for springing this childhood trauma of mine on unsuspecting you. ;-) Hope the wabbits leave you some plants to enjoy!
I am sort of glad that we do not have rabbits, it is hard enough to garden in our climate with water shortage as it is. We had them as pets and I have a photo of my son and his bunny sleeping together on the bed.
If you would like to see our wild habitat visit our blog aloe wilderness
thank you I enjoyed your lovely blog.
I like seeing rabbits hopping about in the park in the winter. In my garden, that's another story. And to go after passion vines - argh. I wouldn't be very happy!!
Oh my. I just found out that I haven't been getting email notifications of comments. Must be an overzealous spam filter at my email host.
Petunia's Gardener: You mean not everybody has critter labels?!??? :-) Maybe they don't have critters?
Mary: I noticed that the petunias and salvias here haven't been even nibbled on, so maybe your mom's are safe.
Iowa Gardening Woman: Hey, maybe they go in cycles, like the cicadas? Just a thought. :-)
Yolanda Elizabet: What a sad story! I bet that was the last time rabbit was served for Christmas at your house. Sounds like one of those things that families talk about for years and years after it happened. If I had to actually kill the animals I eat, I'd instantly turn vegetarian. Seriously.
Ericat: Thanks for stopping by. There are so many interesting plants native to South Africa. I've been meaning to try Cape Fuchsias (Phygelius), but haven't gotten around to them yet. I had a tiny collection of aloes at one time, but I left them outside one winter and that was the end of the collection.
Kate: Well, as long as they leave me a few passion vines, the bunnies and I get along fine. I really do have enough to spare. Passion vines, that is.
How nice of you to share with the bunnies! Mine aren't too destructive-but only because I regularly spray repellent on all my plants! They still hang out and hide under the plants though, especially hostas. Seems I can't water them without a rabbit dashing out. They do eat the seedheads off the grass in my lawn, which I don't mind one bit!
Lisa: They usually don't eat too many of the garden plants, maybe because they have plenty of weeds to eat. ;)
This is so funny! It's how I am with the figs and the mockingbirds - I enjoy them too much to even imagine asking them to leave.
Post a Comment
<< Tangled Branches: Cultivated, main page