While we love our garden, we also didn’t want to use any cruel methods that would hurt the deer. What we wanted to do was learn how we could use companion planting and repellents to keep the local herd from destroying our roses. Protecting our plants from deer became a small obsession after they devastated our garden and left our rose bushes completely stripped. Since a single deer can eat 5-15lbs of leaves, buds, and shoots in a day, you can imagine the damage even a small herd can do to your climbing roses. Yes, they will snack away on even the thorny canes of climbing roses, causing significant destruction to your rose arbors or wall trellises. With their heavy sprays of blooms, your sprawling climbers are sadly not exempt from your local deer’s diet. They will eat miniature roses as they are not bothered by the small thorns on these varieties and will quickly strip and eat every part of your miniature rose bushes. They also enjoy eating berries and fruits, such as the hips on your rose plants. The deer will bite through as much of the hard stem as possible, then tear the rest free.ĭeer are herbivorous mammals that feed on many garden plants, including thorny ones and those poisonous to sheep and cattle. Ragged ends on woody plants where the deer has torn the stem.Leaves, new shoots, and flower buds were stripped overnight. There are a few ways to discourage deer from grazing on your roses, but you might want to switch to more resistant plants if the deer continue to be a problem in your garden.ĭeer usually feed between dusk and dawn, but there are certain signs to look for to determine if deer are damaging your rose bushes. Whether you’re growing heritage rose bushes or other varieties, deers will often make a snack of your glorious blooms before they even get the chance to bud. While they might avoid older, hard growth with lots of thorns, they will browse new rose shoots when they are still tender and green.īut don’t assume the old growth is safe – deer can and will eat thorny hardwood stems and tear branches off your rose bushes if hungry.
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