Girdling the hedge

Let TPP show you the privet hedge bordering his driveway along the property line. This is where the snow gets piled when, and if, the driveway gets shoveled. What is notable this year is just how thoroughly, completely, the bark was stripped from the stems, and privet is a species the bun-buns have never paid any attention to before. Of course, lots of other shrubs and small trees were protected by fencing, so perhaps this just shifted the bun-buns' preferences further down the species list. But a walk around the gardens showed lots of "bleached bones" limbs and stems, striped of bark to the wood. Our bunnies aren't very large, but as the snow piled up, they gained access to ever higher portions of the stems. Of course, none of this mattered at all if the stem was already girdled near its base. Here because of the snow accumulation, the hedge's stems have been gnawed cleanly from about 6 inches to about 30 inches. Not much to do but prune the entire hedge back almost to the ground and see how it grows back. More amusing, and much less harmful was a largish pile of hackberry branches from a large branch that broke off a big tree during a wind storm. But right now the branches look so strange because they've been gnawed clean of bark, starkly white, just like bleached bones. But our bunny population seems to be in good shape and eagerly awaiting the first green shoots that appear.

Waiting for signs of spring

Officially the 2013-2014 winter has been a long, cold, and snowy, and today is no exception.  It's a bitterly cold day following another below zero Fahrenheit over night low. Just to make himself feel better TPP checked his garden flowering log data.  His witch-hazel has bloomed between Feb 18 and March 3d over the past 4 years. This Sunday another multiple inch snowfall is predicted, so it looks like a late spring for certain. The brief partial melt has begun to reveal the extent of the bunny damage, and it's quite shocking. Every bit of pine foliage within their reach has been nibbled away!  Never before have they nibbled on my pines!  A dwarf spreading Scotch pine has really been denuded and we can hope it recovers from such a severe and haphazard pruning. And even worse, TPP needs flowering to commence for his taxonomy class.

A thaw reveals bad bun-buns

Officially this is the snowiest (already), and perhaps the coldest winter on record for this area, and it's only Feb 19th.  Of course this week's thaw could kill the coldest winter record, but the thaw is much appreciated if only for the contrast. Unfortunately, the melting snow has revealed that a bun-bun managed to get around/through a fencing barrier and girdled a small ornamental hemlock, as if TPP didn't have enough difficulty with this species of tree anyways. As the melt continues, it's certain that more feeding damage will be discovered.  Oh well, nothing to do but start shopping for a replacement.

Bad Bunny Buffet - Winter Eats

One trouble with lots of snow cover, it encourages the bunnies to turn to bark and twigs for food. Now even though a couple of miles of rabbit fencing protects many trees and shrubs, there's always something that either isn't protected, something we forgot to fence, or a convenient snow drift that provides access to winter fodder within. A meander around the estate suggests that oak-leafed hydrangeas are bunny favorites. Neither a red spirea nor a flowering quince will need any pruning some spring; they've been quite neatly cut back. That's twice now for the quince; you'd think we'd learn. Although hardly an effective counter measure, our long-haired kitten whose breed hails from nothern latitudes wanted out for a walk, and this snow is sort of weird stuff, but let's go look in shrubbery for rabbits anyways. Who can argue with that? At least it tries to earn its keep. And a free-loading squirrel got quite a surprise because this predator climbs trees! What fun to be a young cat, even if harnessed to a long leash.