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ICE, -40ƒ AND RABBITS STILL BETTER THAN ARMADILLO AND 'JAVELINA!'
I'll be amazed if anything turns green this spring. If Mother Nature had asked me last fall to write a script for a hostile environment for plants, I don't think my imagination could have strung together the pernicious events of recent months.
The one-two punch of the ice storm and wind devastated trees and shrubs. When the snow melts this spring, the ground in some forested areas, and perhaps in your back yard, is going to look like a war zone.
Then, our week of -30ƒ and -40ƒ temperatures surely blew out the circuits in the delicate cell structure of some woody plants.
And now it's the rabbits.
Well, actually, the rabbits have been busy since fall, but I've just begun noticing the extent of their busy work in the last two weeks as I've spent more time walking outdoors.
Shortly after the ice storm, I sawed some stout oak limbs that had crashed to the ground during the fury of the ice and wind. This past weekend, I hauled out the chunks I had cut earlier.
As I worked, I couldn't make up my mind if I was better or worse off because the ground was still frozen. Judging by the brown carpet of droppings left amidst the pile of branches and twigs, you'd think it had been the site of a rabbit convention. The ground looked like the bottom of a birdcage. It was like walking on marbles. Thawed ground would have indeed been safer, but imagine my plight had I lost my balance.
Apparently the bark of the twigs and branches that previously had been growing 40 feet above the ground is a taste treat rabbits don't often get to enjoy. Many of the branches were completely stripped of bark.
Closer to my house, rabbits have devoured just about any every ground-level twig and branch they could clamp their incisors on. Even healthy young bur oak trees have been girdled six inches off the ground. Every needle on several young Austrian pines, planted in September, have been chewed to within a half inch of the branch.
A 20-foot basswood tree with a 2-inch diameter trunk looks like it's fallen prey to beaver. The trunk above the snow surface haas been nearly chewed through. Several larch trees planted last spring have disappeared! Even the stems on red twig dogwood have been girdled.
Some of you, I suspect, would contend that these rabbits should have been turned into stew long ago. And perhaps you're right.
Most mornings, several of my floppy eared friends are actually waiting for me when I scatter sunflower seed for the ground-feeding birds. One rabbit held its ground until I got to within 4 feet of it.
Now, I ask you, what kind of sport is it to shoot a rabbit from 4 feet?
Keeping rabbits from devouring my trees and shrubs has become about as big a challenge as keeping squirrels out of the bird feeders. However, as of this week, I'm not going to worry about them quite so much. There are gardeners who would love to trade their pest problems for my rabbits. I know. I read about it on the Internet.
Would you believe that South Carolina gardeners have to contend with invasions of lizards? A gardener of unknown origin is trying to outwit a hungry herd of elk that graze in her garden. Another message laments the work of beaver that are toppling "10-inch diameter oak trees" in her yard. A Texas gardener claims armadillo have completely taken over his garden.
But the number one reason I've decided to live with my rabbits is because a gardener somewhere (another planet?) reports that "javelina" regularly jump her 3-foot fence and eat everything she's worked so hard to nurture.
Given a choice, I'll take rabbits to javelina any day.
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
Gardening Wisdom, Wit
and Whimsy
$10 + $2 for shipping
by Cliff Johnson |
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