Help-Squirrel and rabbit proof bulbs, perennials and berries

Westfield, NJ

I cannot keep squirrels and rabbits away. Before I do my Spring planting, I welcome advice on which bulbs and perennials they avoid. Lillies? Irises? Anemones? Strawberries? Geraniums? Crocouses?
I know they avoid daffodils but love tulips. They seem to avoid my hyacinths.
I am in Central NJ. I am not interested in bulbs which have to be lifted in Winter or annuals

thanks

Vicksburg, MS(Zone 8a)

Try perching a plastic owl in the area where you have the bulbs. Squirrels and rabbits are "lunch" for owls and they have worked very nicely for me over the years. You would need to move it around about once a week so they don't figure out that he's not real. I've seen them at Wal Mart and some of our local nurseries.

Dayton, OH

Rabbits and other critters don't like anything "smelly" like mint, sage, onion, marigolds, euphorbia--anything considered "herbal". I have bee balm (mint family), salvias (sage), russian sage, sedum, ornamental alliums (onion), yarrow, cushion spurge (euphorbia), foxglove, lavender, echinacea, hibiscus and others like that which the bunnies leave alone. I've never had problems with my coreopsis early sunrise, baby sun, tequila sunrise, moonbeam or limerock ruby/sunset red (an annual in my zone). They also leave my dianthus alone--firewitch, telstar red.
They don't bother taller plants like Joe Pye weed, swamp milkweed, tall bellflower, tall phlox zinnia and cosmos.
They haven't bothered my sedums or mums. Very small starts of black-eyed susans have been eaten, but I kept re-planting them and using bloodmeal and once they got bigger, the bunnies left them alone.
Bloodmeal sometimes works, as does dog hair and pepper spray (tastes strong, but doesn't hurt in the long term).

Ayrshire Scotland, United Kingdom

Them rabbits are more cleaver than we give them credit for where bulbs are concerned, the ones you said they dont eat id because they are poisonous to rabbits, but the mice and other little creachers have no preference and will eat anything to hand.
the only sure fire way I know to keep the rabbits away from your bulbs is to bury some chicken wire on the top few inches of soil when you plant your bulbs and as they scrape away to get to the bulbs, they discover the barrier you put there and move on, as for shrubs etc, dont know if you get these in your area, but here we buy brown plastic tree and shrub guards, they look like a coil of brown plastic and have air holes in them for the tree/shrub to get air on the stems, you just coil those around the stems where the rabbits are inclined to nibble the bark, and they cant do that, try looking in the garden store for tree guards, you can cut them shorter to fit if need be. hope this helps get you in the right direction for you rabbit war. good luck. WeeNel.

central, NJ(Zone 6b)

When I planted my bulbs this past fall I put a layer of chicken wire over them haven't had a problem so far. Also using deer scram on rest of gardens. Seems to work for me.
http://www.deerscram.com/

Chapmansboro, TN(Zone 6b)

The best luck I've have keeping varmints out of my garden was to raise a female dog with hunting dog breeding. I had her spayed as soon as the vet allowed to eliminate the problems of male dogs coming around. She does a great job keeping deer, squirrels, rabbits, moles, chipmunks, and groundhogs away, and she thoroughly enjoys the hunt. Also, females don't urinate on everything in sight!

Thumbnail by shadyTNlady
Toronto, ON(Zone 5b)

I don't know about squirrels, but chipmunks used to go through our strawberry patch, taking one bite out of each fruit.

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