How's this for news? The bunnies probably aren't going to eat your bulbs this spring. They might not even give them a nibble. They haven't lost their taste for tulips -- they're just expanding their palates.
"The way it works is that rabbits like what's fresh, young and juicy," said Jennifer Menken, wildlife coordinator for the Bell Museum of Natural History.
In a typical spring, bulbs are the only things that fill the bill. But this is no typical spring.
According to Jim Gilbert, a naturalist and a biologist at Gustavus Adolphus College, most plants are a full 15 days ahead of normal bloom time. And that's turned your back yard into a bunny smorgasbord.
Rabbits are what Menken calls "good grazing animals," easily switching from plant to plant. "This year, it all came up at once," she said. "They had so many options."
Now, if you're a true Minnesotan, this is where you'd get nervous, where you'd start to wonder if some bad news was hiding behind the good. And you'd be right.
See, rabbits got a jump on the season, too. Menken said that rabbits normally have two or three litters a summer. "This year we may see four."
That could mean your garden will have lots of furry mouths to feed later this summer.
