Rabbits have eaten the leaves off more of the bulbs by the entrance to the garden, including some freshly planted Dichelostemma and a second tray that was sitting there waiting to go into the ground. I managed to get them all the way through the winter without being attacked by the mice that have been plaguing the greenhouse, then a couple of days outside and they've been grazed off. The foxtail lilies are being steadily cropped to the ground, and most of the flower buds have gone from the fritillaries. It is really quite discouraging. As a stopgap the Systems Administrator has offered to make a temporary wire barrier to go across the entrance to the drive, which I can take down each morning when I go out to let the hens into their run, as that's normally before the postman comes.
And we are talking each other into believing that Our Ginger and the short indignant tabby could cope with the introduction of kittens. That's what we need, a couple of fit young cats patrolling the garden and putting the fear of god into the local rabbit population, which stayed out for over a decade while the two Maine Coons and the black cat were in their prime. Meanwhile, on the basis of know-thy-enemy, the wildlife camera is set up on the affected bulbs to try and discover how many rabbits are coming in, and at what time. It was previously supposed to have been telling us what creature was making the mysterious burrows near the chicken house, but the SA found no images because the batteries had gone flat. They were cheap own brand ones, and evidently a false economy.
At least rabbits don't seem to eat daffodils. Actually, nothing much does, apart from Narcissus root fly and particularly stupid supermarket shoppers. Most creatures appreciate that they are toxic. They don't last overly long in our garden, though. A gardening friend with equally dry, light soil said that they didn't do well in her garden either, so I blame the conditions and not my cultivation techniques. Today I added some more of the variety 'Sun Disc' to one of the borders in the back garden, since my first planting made in 2009 has persisted pretty well. The 'Beryl' planted at the same time in the same border have almost entirely disappeared. 'Sun Disc' is a fairly low growing daffodil, with neat little round flowers of lemon yellow, surrounding a dainty, darker yellow cup.
I've got some of the white flowered variety 'Thalia' to go into the daffodil lawn. The grass is beginning to grow, as are the other daffodils so I can see where they are, and it will be a challenge planting 'Thalia' without making too much of a mess trampling everything else, and settling the earth around the newly planted leaves so that they stand upright and look natural immediately. If they sit there all awry and looking awkward and trussed up it will spoil the look of the entire lawn for this season. 'Thalia' is a Victorian variety, and not always easy to track down, so I was pleased to find them in the Peter Nyssen catalogue. I've already got some, which have lasted reasonably well, and they are said to tolerate partial shade which is useful as the hedge and oak tree have grown since I first planted daffodils in that lawn.
None of it will quite take my mind off the rabbits.
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