They Should ALL be Caged!

I can't be sure if it was just my normal procrastinating nature or disappointment over what happened that has kept me from posting this, but here goes: I was out in the yard, after a snow, looking for animal tracks and basically anything of interest, when I checked up on the dogwood I had planted in what will be our woodland. I was disappointed to see that the rabbits had eaten around the bark, which will likely kill the young tree--at least the upper portion. I am hoping it will grow from below where they ate.

For three years, the rabbits never bothered the first five dogwoods I put in. A deer did nibble the twigs on one of them, but has left the rest alone. I put six more in this year and did nothing to protect them. Now after seeing the damage that the rabbits did to this one, I protected the other young ones the best I could without running out to buy more fencing. Aluminum foil, should foil those bunnies!

I do have cages around many of my tree seedlings--especially around those that I know are readily eaten by deer or rabbits.

There is more to this story. I was planning to save this for a series of posts I planned to create called "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", but here it is: Although the 3-year-old black gum tree seedlings I put in the first spring that we were here were not bothered by the rabbits and only a few were *lightly browsed* by the deer, I found that only the tag is left of the one that I planted under the forsythia bushes that I'm in the process of removing. ~sigh~ Here's hoping that it will come up from below as well!

I've yet to put a cage around all of the trees and shrubs I've put in, but perhaps I should. One thing I've learned from this is that anything planted where there is cover needs more protection than those planted where it is more open.


The black gum before.


All that is left is the tag.


The damage to the dogwood.