In late 2023 I was given a few mangave pups by a visiting friend, who had separated them from his plants. They overwintered in the basement and I planted them out in spring of 2024. Can you see the two mangaves in this photo? No? Only see one?
Here they are with arrows...
This one (on the left in the above photo) was repeatedly chomped on by visiting rabbits.
This one, Mangave 'Lavender Lady' (on the right), was never touched.
They were just a couple of feet away from each other, yet one was allowed to grow and look gorgeous, the other was snacked on all summer long. The only difference that I can see is that 'Lavender Lady' was mostly surrounded by Juniperus conferta 'Blue Pacific', and maybe that made it uncomfortable for the rabbits to cozy up to? Interesting. I will remember this in for the future. Since 'Lavender Lady' has Agave attenuata parentage it's not at all hardy and I've lifted it for the winter. I left the other one in the ground for the rabbit jerks.
Truth be told, there's now another mangave in the mix, since I brought this M. 'Bloodspot' home from a plant swap. Nobody else wanted it and I couldn't let the poor thing go homeless.
To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note; these are sent from a third party, their annoying ads are beyond my control.
All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
"Lavender Lady' has held up well here too but then I've never seen rabbits go after any of my Mangaves. Maybe that's because there are so many delicious Gazanias for them to chomp - or maybe the coyotes are more active than I realize. 'Bloodspot' (my first Mangave) was/is a slow grower in my experience.
ReplyDeleteWe have coyotes too (Nextdoor goes crazy with people seeing them and warning others to bring in their pets) but they're evidently well fed.
DeleteThe rabbits ignore them here. 'Lavender Lady' is quite a pretty one, and it looks good in your Juniper--tho currently it must be displaying its beauty in your basement.
ReplyDeleteYep, it does lend a nice colorful symmetry to a shelf in the basement.
DeleteGrr those cwazy wabbits!! Hadn’t seen any in our neighborhood in North Tabor until this year. We got a dog recently and I’m hoping he is making them feel unwelcome.
ReplyDeleteJim N. Tabor.
Fingers crossed your dog keeps the little furry @$$holes away.
DeleteFricking rabbits!!!
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteA resident coyote all but eliminated my bunny problem.
ReplyDeleteWhen you say "I've lifted it for the winter", do you mean you dig it out, or literally pull a pot it was planted in out of the ground?
Chavli
Dig it out. I'm not a fan of sinking pots into the ground.
DeleteAh, good for you - bloodspot was worthy of a save!
ReplyDeleteRight? I couldn't believe nobody wanted it.
DeleteYes, I bet rabbits don't like having prickly bristles sticking into their tushes. I've not gotten to the point where I hate them as much as deer, but we've got so many pests out in the country where we live it's almost inevitable that we see similar damage. I wish it made more sense what they went after and why. It would make it easier to plan and protect accordingly.
ReplyDelete