Field mice can usually find enough food outdoors even during the winter. But they cause big problems in the nurseries because they get into the greenhouses and plastic huts. The only thing in there to eat are plants. Of course a mouse doesn't eat much, but they eat the bark off the stems, girdling the plants and killing them. Nurserymen use rodent bait that is designed to hold up under the moist conditions found in greenhouses to control these pests.
Rabbits are also a king size headache for nurserymen, golf courses, and homeowners.
Rabbits love Burning Bush. A rabbit will browse through your landscape like a shopper at Wal-Mart, stopping to take a little taste of each plant until he finds one he likes. When he gets to a Crabapple tree or a Burning Bush he likes the first taste, and will stay and eat until he is satisfied. He'll come back again when he is hungry. Being small, rabbits eat close to the ground, girdling the plants.