One spring when I was walking around my yard, enjoying my tulips I came upon some that had been dug up. Darn squirrels, I thought. It’s bad enough that they dig up all of my freshly planted bulbs in the fall, but do they have to dig up the ones that survived in the spring too? A little research showed me that the real culprit was a rabbit.
When I moved to New Jersey, I knew that there was a big deer problem, but no one ever talked about rabbits. In my first house, I only saw a rabbit once. It was just a poor scrawny thing. I didn’t see any rabbits at my second house until the tulip massacre. After that, it was clear that at least one rabbit had taken up residence in my yard. And what a rabbit it was, big and plump.
My yard was perfect rabbit habitat. Shrubs and densely planted flower beds formed a rabbit friendly perimeter surrounding an open area grassy area otherwise known as my lawn. Rabbits love to hide in brush and graze in meadows and grasslands.
Obviously I had to give up planting tulips. That was no great loss. They don’t last long in New Jersey. But what could I plant that the rabbit wouldn’t eat? Fortunately, a lot of the same plants that deer don’t like are also disliked by rabbits.
So when you plant rosemary, lavender, thyme, bee balm, and mint to discourage deer, you are also planting rabbit-resistant herbs. Chives and other alliums (such as onions), sage, yarrow, and catmint are just as distasteful to rabbits as they are to deer. Like deer, they don’t care for strongly scented herbs.
There appears to be a lot of disagreement about basil. Some authors claim that it keeps rabbits away and others say that rabbits dislike all aromatic herbs EXCEPT basil.
A very interesting herb that is often mentioned as rabbit resistant is aconitum or monkshood, also called wolfsbane. This is one of my favorite herbs. Unlike most herbs, it is a shade lover. The name monkshood derives from its gorgeous stalk of flowers that are shaped like a monk’s hood. It is called wolfsbane because it is extremely poisonous. Hunters stalking wolves used it on the tips of their arrows. If you choose to grow it, be sure to keep pets and children away from it. Always wear gloves when handling it. Every part of the plant is poisonous. I didn’t realize how poisonous it was for years and never wore any protection when planting, transplanting or deadheading it. I was also fortunate and suffered no ill effects. Despite its toxicity, there are several cultivars that have been developed by growers. My preference is for the original purple form but you might like to try some that have different flower colors.
Like deer, the only real protection from rabbits is a fence. Without a fence, you can still grow many popular culinary herbs that will discourage rabbits from snacking in your yard.
55 Comments on “Rabbit Resistant Herbs”
One of the things the rabbits love best in my yard is Yarrow. I’ve had to grow it in pots for protection.
What about parsley and cilantro? Are they “bunny proof”?
No, I’m afraid not.
Does sage keep rabbits away
Most very fragrant herbs are supposed to keep rabbits away. I have found that pet hair works the best to keep rabbits out of my garden. Just spread cat or dog hair around the garden and the rabbits will stay away thinking that there is a dog or cat there.
Do you know how the long the dog hair will repel them? If it rains, do I need to put out a fresh supply? I am wondering if my friends collect their pets shedding, will it rebel the bunnies by the time that I get it?
Pat, I usually renew the pet hair monthly. It doesn’t have to be fresh off the pet. I have used cat hair that accumulated on the cat tree. That was at least a week old and worked just fine.
I believe rabbits eat basil. Something has eaten all but the very highest leaves on my basil plant (along with my lettuce and fennel). A deer would have started at the top and eaten the stems as well, so my guess is its a rabbit.
Bunnies ate my basil and dill right away – but this year – I think it was rabbits (as we have many) they ate two young tomato plants down to the ground! Do you think it was a deer? I have fenced off the tomato plants and put all my herbs on the deck….although I had to fence in my pots on my deck as the rabbits climbed two sets of stairs to eat the dill…
I would use mint around the plants that the rabbits are eating. They don’t like the smell of mint. Just put pieces of mint that you have cut off around the plants that you want to protect. If deer are eating your vegetable garden, plant herbs with strong flavors and fragrances among your veggies. Deer do not like plants with strong tastes or smells. That’s how I keep deer from eating my flowers – planting herbs in amongst them.
Herblady – that’s not true at all. Rabbits LOVE mint and will eat bucketloads of this at basil. Trust me – I have 2 hungry house bunnies.
cilantro / Corriander
basil
flat leaf parsley
mint
all appear on rabbit welfare websites as being rabbit friendly, so I think you’re best bet is to. look on there … then do the opposite.
*and basil. Sorry, typo
The jury is still out on basil. Some gardeners swear that rabbits won’t touch it and others swear that rabbits will eat it.
I love the cat fur idea for keeping rabbits away from my herbs and flowers! I have had cats my entire adult life. Who knew? (Obviously not me.) Thanks so much.
Our two bunnies have been ‘infusing’ themselves with rosemary and lavender when we let them free range in the garden for ages, doesn’t seem to deter them..!
Bunnies are not eating cinnamon basil, bell peppers or mango.
Also, bunnies are not eating lime mint.
Hi. I don’t know where you got that list, but every rabbit I’ve seen treats mint like an addict. My rabbit responds to mint like I was offering him pancake syrup. Actually most the herbs you’re talking about rabbits will eat. Mine will eagerly gobble up mint, parsley, cilantro, basil and sage. In fact I found this site cause I just realized I forgot to check if sage is rabbit safe after giving my Bun some. (It is) Some are more picky than others, but not sure which herbs will repel rabbits. Unfortunately rabbits will gladly eat tasty plants even if they’re toxic to them. Anything related to onions is potentially toxic to rabbits, like chives, garlic, shallots and leeks, but My Idiot still tried to fight me for some chives I dropped on the floor. You’re better off with physical barriers.
Thanks for your comment. The key word is “resistant”. Other than poisonous plants like daffodils, no plant is rabbit or deer proof. The young ones learn from their mothers which plants are safe to eat and which ones are poisonous and should be avoided. Since your rabbit is domesticated, s/he was never trained by a wild mother which plants s/he should be eating. That is why your rabbit tried to eat plants that are poisonous. My article is aimed at people who are having problems with wild rabbits eating their plants, not domesticated rabbits. The plants I listed are generally not bothered by wild rabbits.
Even with wild rabbits (I have domesticated too) it seems to be what appeals to them. My domesticated will eat, depending on the rabbit, just about everything on this list. I also have marsh (wild) rabbits and deer. I am not sure which is the culprit out of the wild creatures but basil is always nipped down to the last leaf and mint also gets a bit chewed up. I know it isn’t the deer as they have other plants they prefer. I do keep the basil in pots close to the house now, and just let an area of mint (since it grows so quickly and easily) run wild in its part of the yard. Having lived in this house for 11 years and all the wild creatures… I’d go for the fur method. Also, it is important to note that you should move the scents about on a regular basis. A wild animal will become used to it if it stays in a certain area. As an example: the deer will not come near a swing I have in the garden area. I move it about every 2 weeks and since it will move slightly with the wind, it spooks them. Hope this helps.
It is so interesting, I have a section of my garden with overgrown raspberry bushes. The rabbits, 3-4 have made a den and live there year round. My whole yard is fenced in so no deer, only rabbits. I leave the rabbits protected as they have been there years before I moved in. Fact is they have not eaten anything in my yard and I have planted most everything from herbs to tomato plants. I will feed them in the winter so they leave my trees alone. At night when I go out, there they are in a huddle in the back yard……watching me, not moving unless the dog comes out and then………………………………
I’m in New York (Long Island), and my Eastern Cottontails have eaten Blue fescue (not supposed to like it), echinacea (not supposed to like that either), horsetail reed, tulips, little bluestem, bark off Serviceberry trees (thank God they didn’t girdle them – I immediately fenced the young trees and they survived the damage). They haven’t touched Joe Pye Weed, monarda, milkweed, Native Honeysuckle, trumpet vine, salvia, goldenrod, Indian grass or sweet grass. They’ve tasted but not eaten a green fennel frond in a potted plant (chopped off a new shoot and left it on the patio), daisy, cardinal flower, lupine and lavender. One of my bunny gang decimated a potted anise hyssop yet let ones planted in the gardens alone – so strange! I use zero chemicals in my yard – no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers. There are plenty of dandelions, clover, and a ton of other wildflowers and weedy plants for them to eat, yet they will still look for something more “gourmet” to munch on lol. I have learned to fence everything in that I don’t want them to eat. I don’t get too upset when I miscalculate their culinary inclinations and neglect to make a plant inaccessible, as they’re just trying to survive in an increasingly hostile environment and dwindling habitat.
Deer ate my bee balm, which they are not supposed to like, this year. As you noted, as the environment changes, animals’ diets also seem to be changing.
Oh the poor deer…. it makes me spitting mad every time I hear someone say, “there are too many deer”. >: ( There are too many humans, taking away more and more habitat and killing off their natural predators. It’s no wonder they’re eating monarda and other “deer resistant” plants. They’re also turning up in near-urban areas. I saw a dead deer on a busy highway in an area there should not have been any deer – unless she was heading to the mall or to TGIFriday’s or maybe to buy a car. We sure made a mess out of this world. It’s just a matter of time before nature deals the final blow – and we will lose the war we’ve been waging against her. : (
Actually, that is a popular misconception. The truth is that are many, many more deer now than when Europeans arrived. Deer live along the edges of forests and in forest clearings. North America was originally heavily forested so there was very little habitat for deer. It was the Europeans who cleared the forests and thereby created habitat for deer that caused the deer over-population. We have been creating habitat for deer, not destroying it.
The answer is to reforest the land to keep the deer population in check.
Hello, do wild rabbits eat Lemongrass herb plants? I’m in Ocean County, NJ Thank you.
I have never heard of rabbits eating lemongrass. They are probably repelled by the strong lemon scent and flavor.
I am dealing with urban deer, rabbits, skunks, and woodchucks. Other than daffodils and oregano, the seem to eat everything! I will try rosemary and lavender, but have low expectations. I have had some success encouraging my dog to pee on/ near the hosts, but we don’t eat that!
When you brush your dog, save the hair and spread it around your garden. Pests think a predator is in the area and will stay away from your yard. You will need to keep renewing the hair because it does break down into the soil.
I have had wonderful luck with a mixture of water and Tabasco sauce – 1.5 tsp per quart of water. Spray it on flowers and the bunnies will just stop eating them. It saved my grape hyacinths and tulips this year.
I live on the edge of a forest with a bazillion rabbits. Formerly had lots of deer too. My Shepherds would love to chase bunnies endlessly, but I can’t allow that. The rabbits waltz all around my yard, day and night. Both dogs shed heavily so I do scatter some of their fur, but definitely not regularly. I have kept increasing my herb garden because the rabbits have always avoided my sage, peppermint, lavender, rosemary, oregano, and bee balm. They, nor the deer, have ever bothered my rhubarb. There are bushels of native wild roses, sweet peas, lupine, columbine and foxglove. There are also lots of daisies: not native, but apparently not tasty. I have planted forget-me-nots in my pet cemetery; they’ve been safe. I did bring home a deep-colored columbine from the nursery, and it was demolished overnight — deer, I suspect — and rabbits squeezed thru the gate into the dog yard to eat, in a single night, 5 fresh hostas. Years ago, I used a couple strings of prayer flags among my climbing roses and they’ve been safe ever since.
If I keep my potted parsley on a table do I have a better chance for it to survive.
Just lost a potted parsley (FLOWER SHOW worthy) to rabbits!
Putting your jpotted parsley on table sounds like a good idea. Rabbits will not climb up to eat it. Do you have problems with squirrels or deer? Either one of those would have no problem snacking on your parsley on a table.
Has anyone thought about shooting the rabbits and serving them with fresh herbs?
Yes, I have a recipe for Rabbit Ragoux. So far I have only used chicken for this recipe but you never know!
I have planted 20 pumpkins and 10 different type of basils in my garden. In 2 nights, my pumpkins were wiped away. I replaced another 16 pumpkins and it was totally chewed down to the ground. I had plastic fence around 1.5 ft height. Guess rabbits were not able to get in that area. So I blame on squirrels which I was wrong. Antoher 2 nights later, my basils were nearly no leaves on. But my tomatos and sweet potatos are still safe till yesterday. 2 of my sweet potatos are chewed up. I tried garlic with hot pepper and dish soap spray with no effects. Finally, I went to refence my veg garden with wired rabbit garden fence which works really good. I can see bunnies wondering around my veg garden and started chewing my lawn outside of the garden. They won’t bother sage, rosemerry, oregano, thyme, tarregon, lavender and mint (after mint growing taller). They ate my lilies too.
I decided to plant some spring onions, garlic, chives on the edge of my vegi garden. Hopefully, they can stay away from my vegies. They chewed my lawn into patches alreay, but I can fix it by letting grass growing thicker and picking up their drops (their drops are too acidotic to the lawn which can cause grass turned yellow and die).
I have no problem for them to hide in my bushes and have family there as long as they don’t distroy my bushes.
Fencing the garden is the best effective way to keep bunnies away from your veg garden.
I agree that fencing is the best way to keep rabbits out of your garden. Thanks for sharing your experience with rabbits and basil.
Hi. Years ago I bought some granulated coyote urine (gross, eh?) from the garden store and sprinkled it around the perimeter of the garden. Bam! MO bunnies! They don’t even like my yard now!
Oops. *No bunnies. 🙃
What about Rosemary?
As I mentioned in my article, rosemary is considered rabbit resistant.
Any suggestions for repelling chipmunks? Thanks!
They hate the smell of mint. When your mint plants get tall, prune them down to a few a inches. Cut the prunings up into small pieces and spread them around the plants that you want to protect from chipmunks. You will need to do this every few weeks because the prunings will decompose into the soil and lose their scent. Just keep pruning your mint and spreading it around your plants all summer.
I will attest the wild rabbits will eat EVERYTHING in my suburban yard, and I mean EVERYTHING. They are intent on decimating (either by eating to the ground or systematically snipping branches) my native and non-native plants, shrubs and small trees. The only thing I’ve found to be effective, and believe me I’ve tried everything, is #1: a fence and #2: a granular product called Rabbit Scram. As I stand here now and survey the snipped milkweed (yes, MILKWEED!) and the single bud on a hosta that has never put up a flower until this year, I would like to nail all the buggers. Grrrrrrrr!!
Hello herb lady, I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of these posts and love your sense of humor. I keep verigated hostas in the back of the yard that the bunnies love but they do venture into the rest of the garden when they want something different to munch on! I have planted tons of lavender and creeping thyme throughout the flower garden which they don’t seem to like. But sometimes they just skirt around it because those painted daisies look so appetizing. So, now I have also planted pineapple, lemon and purple sage, oregano and rosemary. I’d rather they eat the herbs than my flowers!
I wish the giant rabbit population would eat the weeds taking over my yard. They don’t seem to care for them. ☹
Meant to say the large rabbit population in my backyard.
One year I bought 4 sorrel plants and 4 spinach plants. The next day, I had no spinach but all the sorrel. The bunnies do not bother the sorrel at all. It has been several years now and the sorrel just keeps growing.
Bunnies in my neighborhood just feasted on my mint leaves. But they were smart enough to leave the top few leaves intact so as not to kill the plant. We don’t have deer, but when I come home at night there are bunnies everywhere, so it had to be them.
I will try the pet hair. We seem to have the less intelligent breed of rabbits. They have babies INSIDE our dogs fenced in pen every single year! Once we find them, we have to fence the nest because baby bunnies are a golden retrievers favorite toy.
My cats hang out in the garden. I brush them and leave the hair there. Tge rabbits do not care. I spray rabbit repellent. They do not care.
Will moth balls deter rabbits?
Some say that they will repel rabbits. I prefer using pet hair. It is more earth friendly and fools rabbits into thinking that there is a predator nearby.
The Herb Lady wrote:
02.19.2019 AT 1:52 PM
… The young ones learn from their mothers which plants are safe to eat and which ones are poisonous and should be avoided. Since your rabbit is domesticated, s/he was never trained by a wild mother which plants s/he should be eating. That is why your rabbit tried to eat plants that are poisonous. My article is aimed at people who are having problems with wild rabbits eating their plants, not domesticated rabbits. The plants I listed are generally not bothered by wild rabbits.”
I live on twenty-five acres in midwestern countryside, with more wild rabbits than you can imagine. The wild mothers may teach their young which plants are poisonous, but I’ve been experimenting for many years now, and have discovered that young rabbits, like fawns, will nibble just about anything and everything at least once to discover whether they like it or not.
One example that experts say rabbits do NOT like is Columbine. (It’s also #1 on the list of bunny proof plants: https://wattersgardencenter.com/plants-rabbits-and-deer-hate/). This Spring, I planted it in pots, and here and there around the outside of my gated “yard”. Baby rabbits ate every single one. They found them all. (I watched them…I have a soft spot for rabbits, and besides, they were on the land before I was, or at least their ancestors were so I let them have whatever is outside my “yard”.
They have also been eating all the other varieties or herbs and flowers I specifically planted outside my gated “yard” that are supposedly ones rabbits and deer avoid.
But I’m not giving up. I’m going to try Thyme next!
I have hordes of bunnies here in Oklahoma in late May-including infants about 5 inches long. They are eating everything. I have had to fence my hummingbird and butterfly plot because they love the asters and the verbena, the vervain, the scarlet runner beans, the Exotic Love or Spanish Flag vines. Why don’t they eat the invasive morning glories? An article said that they will eat small redbud trees which I would find helpful. It is our state tree and reseeds by the hundreds, They do not help me with this at all ! They eat the cosmos, the carnations, the nasturtiums, the Echinacea; ignoring only the salvias. I am elevating quite a few things which is expensive. My latest economy measure is to buy the least expensive hot water heater platforms and spray paint them a nice color. They will hold several pots.They are rated for 50 pounds so it is all good. I would like to have gracefully waving lavendar at ground level but it is not to be. I do try to coexist.
I actually have a beagle. She was confined to and raised in a medical lab/puppy profiteering mill for 4 and a half years. She is a lovely creature. But even 10 months later , living a more natural life, she has no idea that she is supposed to deal with rabbits and 5 or 6 can hop around her with no fear.