We are well aware that we have a lot to learn about gardening here in the Pacific Northwest. Our yard is a lot smaller than was the case with our South Dakota home, but there are a lot of plants that are much easier to grow here. While we see deer on the road and have often seen them quite close to our place, we have never seen them in our neighborhood or on the farm. This means that we don’t have any fences around our plants. It also means that we are having great success with flowers from bulbs. Since Skagit County, just to the south of ours is the source of a huge percentage of the tulips and daffodils grown for florists and the major producer of bulbs for home gardening in the United States, we have easy access to places to purchase bulbs. Our tulips and daffodils did great this spring and we plan to add more bulbs this fall and add crocus and hyacinth as well. In South Dakota the deer were so quick to eat most of our bulb plants and we ended up growing only iris successfully.

Our herbs are doing great. We have a ready supply of parsley, basil, and oregano right outside our door. The oregano has been particularly successful. In fact it has spread and proliferated so much that we will definitely need to dig some of it out. In the meantime, I’ve got plenty hanging and drying and have more than a year’s supply of dried oregano on hand. We are quick to offer that spice to friends and neighbors. The mint is looking healthy, but we’re still a bit shy of growing the quantity that we consume. We’re big drinkers of peppermint tea. I’m hoping that we’ll be growing all of our own peppermint in a couple of years as the plants mature and expand.

However, there are a few plants that have been a challenge for us. Something has been eating our lettuce and kale so much that we’ve done second, third, and maybe fourth plantings. We have a pot of lettuce growing up on our front porch because the bed in front of the porch, where the oregano is thriving, proved to be a poor location for lettuce. At least the lettuce in the pot is reserved for human consumption. There are plenty of greens growing at the farm, so we have a ready source, but lettuce is something that is best to have right outside your door. Fortunately, we are having a bit better success in the raised beds in the back, especially the ones that are on top of our deck.

This week, to the delight of our visiting grandson, whose fifth birthday is just a week away, we discovered the issue with lettuce and carrots in our front garden. One evening when I was watering, I saw the tiniest baby bunny in the front bed. I went to get our grandson who brought his mother to see as well. After a bit of looking we discovered a nest with four baby bunnies under the oregano. Yesterday we saw the mother as well. Baby bunnies in the oregano seems to be much more valuable than lettuce in that particular bed and I’m willing to sacrifice the carrot tops which have been eaten before the roots are fully developed. This isn’t much of a sacrifice for us because there are carrots for our grandson to pull in the back and he doesn’t seem to be big on eating them, so we have enough for ourselves.

I don’t know if the bunnies eat oregano, but they are welcome to all they want of it.

Even though we haven’t discussed it as a family, I do know the names of the rabbits. So far the rule at our house is that you can look, but not touch the bunnies, and that children have to have an adult supervise them when looking in the garden. Also, no one gets to step into the bed where the oregano and bunnies are currently sharing space. I’m not sure how I’m going to go about watering the plants, but I’m pretty sure that the rabbits will grow quickly enough that I won’t have a problem doing so in a week or two.

About the names. Well, they are Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter. I’m not very good at determining the gender of rabbits and none of them seems to be in possession of a blue coat, but the one who would have a blue coat would be Peter, of course. Oh, and their mother is Josephine Rabbit. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter was a beloved read aloud book in our home when I was a child and I remember the names of the characters. I’m pretty sure that cousin Benjamin Bunny lives pretty close to Peter and his family so that is likely the name of one the bunnies we’ve seen in the neighbor’s lawn. Our grandson loves to point out all of the bunnies he sees in our walks around the neighborhood and this year seems to have been a very good one for bunnies.

However, I’m no Mr. McGregor. Although I have been accused of being grouchy, I’m not Scottish. Also I’m not sure I would accuse the rabbits of stealing. I rather prefer to think of us as being willing to share the bounty of the garden with them. I may, however, investigate some forms of fencing and netting that would allow for the increase of salad greens next year. I am certain that if I found a tiny blue jacket caught in the fence, I would leave it there and not prohibit Peter from coming back to retrieve it. Finally, though I am old, my name is not John. You wouldn’t know Mr. McGregor’s first name from the original book, but it does appear in “The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies.”

For now, having a clutch of baby bunnies in my oregano gives me a pretty good story to tell and a great bit of enchantment for grandchildren. They might not remember that grandpa keeps sunflowers and dahlias and hydrangeas in his garden, but they won’t forge that he has bunnies in his oregano. And now they know which plant is the oregano if I need to send them to harvest a bit of it to spice our dinner. Of course I won’t do that until the bunny family moves on. We’ve got plenty of oregano inside for our use.