Question
These pests eat or dig up my annuals. I have a mixed sun/shade environment here in southern NJ and emphazise begonias.  Impatiens are ok in places but don't do as well in hot dry weather. Is there a way of keeping the critters away or are there annuals that they will avoid?  Thanks

Answer
Back in the 1850s, some unwitting Australians released into the Australian countryside a few cute, fluffy, European Rabbits -- something they used to do often back then, for future reserves of food, and lived to regret.

There were no natural predators on the Australian continent.  With Rabbits multiplying like Rabbits, the damage these rodents wreaked on Oz was devastating.  Desperate to protect crops, determined to rebalance the local ecology, Australians spent a fortune on everything from Rabbit bounties to equipment for protecting vegetation to Rabbit-repellants research.

Homer, Welcome to the Club.

Somehow, you have been tapped official food supplier for neighborhood Rabbits and Squirrels, a 24/7 shift because Squirrels are diurnal, Rabbits are nocturnal.. No need to wait for a table, no trouble with parking.  We should all be so lucky.

RABBITS, unlike Squirrels, enjoy a wide variety of entrees: -- lettuce, cabbage and dandelion leaves as well as maples and oaks, wild clover and domestic carrots, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.  A Rabbit will eat anything when desperate, down to the bark off trees.  I have had them snip and taste-test every tulip along my driveway under cover of darkness.  Their diet is high in cellulose and lignin, low in digestible matter, which accounts for their taste for tree bark; they need little nutrition to survive, but given a menu they love vegetables and fruits.  They are less fond of Barberry, Cinquefoil, Cotoneaster, Lilac, Sage and Viburnum.

Mr MacGregor had the right idea.  Build a fence.  This works at least for Rabbits.  Chicken wire is affordable and effective.  A fence must be 2 to 3 ft high, depending on how big the Rabbit is and how high it can jump, plus another 2 to 6 inches buried underground.

SQUIRRELS cannot eat grass and leaves.  But they'll eat Pansies and Petunias, Dahlias and Daisies.   Unlike Rabbits, Squirrels are easy to trap.  This is best done in winter; otherwise you may be abducting the mother or father of a new young brood.  Check local ordinances; some forbid trapping of wildlife(http://icwdm.org/agencies/StateAgencies.asp).  Cages must be set up flat; if they tip or move as the animal enters, the animal won't go in.   The Urban Integrated Pest Management website (http://ag.arizona.edu/urbanipm/rodents/groundsquirrelschipmunks.html) posts illustrations and cage strategies.  There are many effective baits, but I have had fine success with peanut butter.  Cover the floor of the trap with dirt, and make sure that you place the cage in shade; Squirrels cannot survive an afternoon under a hot summer sun.

Once in custody, they must be moved several miles away, or they will find their way back.  For guidance on trapping and other tips and tricks, see the ICWDM website (http://icwdm.org/WildlifePublications.asp).

I hate to say it, but you can't assume that relocating Rabbits and Squirrels is always the most humane option.  A wild animal moved to a new neighborhood must find new territory, food supplies and shelter while watching out for predators on foreign soil.  The problems of relocating Squirrels are itemized at http://icwdm.org/wildlife/euthanasia/relocation.asp

If you are contemplating the purchase of one of those high tech ultrasonic gadgets to repel Squirrels and/or Rabbits, save your money.  I know of zero evidence these contraptions work.

Many people with your problem have through trial and error come up with their own repellent recipes.

Some swear by copious quantities of Garlic, crushed and dispersed, either buried with bulbs underground or placed around the plants over mulch.

Others advocate a few sprays of Ammonia at dusk and dawn near flower surfaces.

Still others go ballistic, getting out the Cayenne pepper, paintguns, BBs, and a host of poisons that are too disturbing to me to list here.  Seek and you shall find.  I don't want to think about it.

Don't expect this to be easy.  Even Australia has never recovered from its naive experiment with alien Rabbits.   Some lawmakers have proposed to ban the sale of toy Bunnies due to concern that children who play with the stuffed version will grow up to want to play with the real thing.   Other communities simply ban the sale or possession of Rabbits.   You can bet that lots of research is going on as we speak to keep Rabbits, and Squirrels, out of Mr. MacGregor's Garden.  Today, unfortunately, we gardeners have just a few choices.  I just hope one of them works in your garden.

Thanks for writing.  Keep me posted.