Why I Oughta...

The (dang) rabbits are indiscriminate with their gnawing this Winter.  Beyond girdling my Belgian Fence trees , they're also eating away at the green tips of my other shrubs, including this Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea.  I planted this one in Fall of 2023 and really liked the fern-like, almost Japanese-Maple-like foliage .   Below is a picture showing the newly exposed centers of some of the branches on this shrub after they've been clipped right off by these furry pests. This shrub came back just fine last Spring and leaf'd out .  But, then something weird happened and it struggled with (I think) drought stress.  It dropped many of its leaves.  Then...in November...it set buds that STARTED TO OPEN (eek!) just as Winter was setting in .  Drought stress. Confused bud burst. Now, rabbit pressure.  This is one to watch this Spring. 

The damage from the (dang!) rabbits isn't contained to our backyard.  They're also working on things in our front yard including one of the small conifer trees - a Weeping Norway Spruce - that is planted IB2DWs.  I was out in the garden this past week when I spotted this strange site:  a spruce 'tip' that was laying next to the tree.  See below: One of those (dang!) rabbits gave this tree a try this Winter and it seems didn't care for it that much.  

Yesterday, I posted photos of how the (dang!) rabbits had removed the bark from the ground all the way up about 18" on all eight trunks of the apple (fruit) trees that I planted in 2020 as part of a Belgian Fence espalier .  The removal of bark by rabbits during Winter is called "Girdling" and essentially kills the tree.   I said that it is time to 'play for keeps' with these rabbits and the first step took place today with the removal of - what I think - is their hiding place.  These Miscanthus grasses that are in front of the Belgian Fence. See below for the current state of these grasses: They provide a TON of 'Winter Interest' - so like all the other ornamental grasses, I've left them up.  But, that's also provided a place for the rabbits to shelter during the Winter. Now...pay no attention to the fact that we are a Certified Wildlife Habitat.  In fact....look away, please. Because I'm taking these grasses down to the ground and removing t...

I went out back to have a look around at the garden a few days ago and I noticed something odd - that drew my eyes to them as being sort-of...out of place.  I noticed what appeared to be some BRIGHT, UPRIGHT lines along the fence that were easily contrasted from the dark(er) grey of the wood fence behind them.   What the what?   I went over to take a closer look and this is what I saw - in the photo below.   See the bright, upright lines that stand out?   DEEP SIGH..... These are the trunks of the eight fruit apple trees that I planted in 2020 - during the height of COVID lockdowns .  Three Golden Delicious trees.  Five Honeycrisp trees.  They're pollinators of each-other, so they were selected deliberately.   Right after planting, I held my breath...and cut off their heads to limit the trunk height to like 18" tall from the ground . A year later, they had ALREADY put out a bunch of limbs and were climbing the trell...