Forgot all about Portulaca! Either grandiflora or umbraticola might work, although they might be a little tender in the early spring. Once it gets warm though they should grow gangbusters!

How about Gerbera? Some things in my garden get chewed on really badly by rabbits, but they haven't touched Gerbera. I plant them in the ground in summer, and keep them in pots over the winter.

Are those Gerber daisies?

Portulaca, now that's an idea! It would be a fitting remembrance of my late husband--it was his favorite flowering plant!

Snapdragons.

Lewisia. It blooms from spring to mid-summer and the leaves themselves are attractive.

pgw33 said:

Beautiful, what is it?

I have pots of marigolds and petunia on my deck spring, fall into winter. Petunias just got bit with temperature falling below zero. petunias do get eaten but if interplant with marigolds, critters will leave them alone once they accidently get a taste of marigold. I live in the woods on a south facing bluff so get every critter native to Missouri. Deer even come on my deck 18' high, that is until Clyde, my cougar friend started coming up. You might try coyote urine pellets sprinkled around the pots to deter them. The odor is not detectable by humans, just animals.

If you want to keep rabbits off your garden, sprinkle blood & bone around the plants. I've been doing this for years and it really works - I'm in rural New South Wales and we have more than our share of bunnies. It seems to keep the wallabies from chomping on the plants as well. Apparently it has something to do with the smell of death and they won't cross over it.
It's also good for the soil, no nasty chemicals.

ginger67 said: If you want to keep rabbits off your garden, sprinkle blood & bone around the plants. I've been doing this for years and it really works - I'm in rural New South Wales and we have more than our share of bunnies. It seems to keep the wallabies from chomping on the plants as well. Apparently it has something to do with the smell of death and they won't cross over it.
It's also good for the soil, no nasty chemicals.

Thanks Ginger, I assume you mean the processed, packaged kind, not the leftovers of my ex-husband...



Just ordered some.

Portalaca, iceplant, sedums should take those conditions and be small. You could try monkeyflower, Lamium and some of the compact Dianthus, nothing bothers those and it rains slugs here. Although the dianthus would have to be dead headed to keep blooming.

BUGGYCRAZY said: Portalaca, iceplant, sedums should take those conditions and be small. You could try monkeyflower, Lamium and some of the compact Dianthus, nothing bothers those and it rains slugs here. Although the dianthus would have to be dead headed to keep blooming.

Rabbits don't eat your dianthus? That's the first thing the rabbits eat in my garden.

I did mean the packaged blood and bone. Leftovers of the ex might work as long as well pulverized.

joannakat said: Is there a datura that grows in zone 5b?

Datura wrightii is cold hardy in 5b and D. stramonium tends to self sow and can grow as an annual in that zone.

I don't know how resistant to all animals they are, but Delosperma species seem to be left alone by a lot of animals and can have gorgeous colorful blooms in container from late spring to late fall. I think they are worth a shot and they grow well with other taller plants in containers in mixed plantings.

Daturas are subject to hornworms here. You have to stay on your toes here to get the worms before they get big. The datura metel in a single white bloom blooms at night and is pollinated by the Sphinx moth.
I've used blood and bonemeal for years as a biannual fertilizer for many different plants. I never have issues with bunnies, so maybe that's why.