Picking flowers from your own garden is the best way to get to know your plants. Often I make discoveries. A few weeks ago, I found a rabbit’s nest among the chamomile in the vegetable garden. The mother had dug a shallow bowl in the soft earth, delivered her young and then covered them up with dried grass and sticks. When I inadvertently uncovered the nest, they were shivering. Didn’t even have their eyes open and they had very little fur. I covered them back up to keep them warm. The mother was crouched under a rose bush near-by, keeping an eye on me. Whenever I spy her in the yard she freezes, as if I won’t notice her if she doesn’t move.

Over the next few weeks, I found the babies running around the garden. I don’t really like that they have robbed me of my beans, cutting the vines off near the ground, but I won’t be the one that stops them. They have enough natural enemies, fox and dogs among them, that I know they can’t all survive.

When we first bought our house 32 years ago, rabbits were a regular sight and I used chicken wire to keep them out of the vegetable garden. Now that our dog is old and the fox population is down, they are making a comeback. It is cute for the moment.

The nest of baby rabbits hidden in the chamomile.

The mother rabbit standing still so I won't notice her.

A baby rabbit peaks out of the nest.

During the day, the mother rabbit keeps an eye on her young from under this rose bush.