Sorry, I have deer & bunnies so I know how you feel. They selectively ate from all my gardens, even the gardens up against the house in the front. I had a fairly good 1st flush (1/2 of my roses) then we got rain so I lost some that were eaten cause they just couldn't survive, the ones that did were just going to bloom when the Japanese Beetles came; I was out yesterday cutting down. I saw the bunnies have been eating again too :( - from what I see, canes left on the ground uneaten or partially eaten are rabbits, when the bush has been eaten and there is nothing left - deer.

As for your question when they come, my hubby gets up at 2:30am, leaves about 3; he has not seen them so my guess is some time after that. I was getting up at 5:15am, I did not see many; my guess is between 3am and 5.

Well, the only real deterrent to deer is an electric fence. Somehow they don't like that jolt they get when they come upon one. If you set it up right, you can quickly remove it once they get the message. I have a good friend who did this, and he has no more deer problems.

I feel your pain....in my heart...I do not have deer but I have an endless issue with the rabbits. They have eaten nd destroyed eight roses so far this season. Roses that I have waited for and babied and had such hopes for. Deep Secret, Rock and Roll, and others. Every night, I see them gathering outside the fence just waiting. I will say that puting the roses in cages help. This does not make for a pretty garden. I won`t even start on the damage they do to my lilies. I know this is not as drastic as deer. Please know I feel bad for you. Mother Nature can sure be a b--ch. Lesley

Been there, had that experience. The solution? Eight foot fencing around everything I value. Problem solved. Its worth the effort, trust me.

I feel for you because before I had a certain part of my garden fenced the deers used to come and do such damage. The last one I literally cried. My husband really felt for me and called the fencing company and now I can enjoy the roses inside the fence but the large unfenced area, I continually have problems. I kind of feel sorry for the deers because of the lack of food for them due to the drought. So I just put up with the situation where they have stripped completely my two Sally Holmes, Zephirine Drouhin and even parts of the vicious thorned 4th of July Climber!

I live in a sea of greenery. Should have planty to eat but no they eat buds anyway. As someone said on another thread there are many roses they don't touch. Mostly old roses, rugosas. New roses like Austins are mostly fair game.

wow, that sounds so incredible! deers? real deers in a garden? I saw them only in zoos or national parks!!

I grow many rugosas and they are terribly thorny, with many thorns of different shapes, you can feel them even if you wear gloves. OK, I do not have deers, but I cannot imagine any mentally sane animal thinking about chewing a rugosa :-)

They eat rugosas -- the particularly like them in the bud stage.

Three or four years ago the deer just about destroyed my roses. When the first bloom was about ready they came in and ate all the new growth. The roses recovered from this and started growing again. The deer came back and ate off all the new growth again. That just about killed the roses.

I decided to dig them all up and start over, but I wasn't going to allow them to remain on the deer's menu. Petco sells an electric fence kit that you can put up yourself. The kit includes the transmitter and the wire. I used thin PVC pipe as the poles and ran the wire once around about four feet off the ground and again about a foot off the ground on the way back. It has worked great. Aside from a little damage where they have reached over the wire for some new growth that was too close, they have left my roses alone. I don't plan to ever take it down. They have so many new fawns every year that haven't experienced the jolt that taking it down is out of the question.

It does work. Give it a try.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and ideas.

It IS heart breaking! I've been just sick about it. Especially yesterday as I was pruning back to healthy growth and I'm seeing some of my beautiful blooms carelessly left on the ground that the deer were too lazy to eat as they gorged themselves in their obscene gluttony. It was like a scene from a horror film. After hearing other experiences, I'm so glad we don't have rabbits, the little fiends. However, I think deer are destructive enough. I don't understand how they can eat the stems with the thorns though?? I hope it gives them indigestion.

Thankfully my last row survived through the night. I'm not sure the Bobbex does any good and it's putrid. I went to the local nursery yesterday and they recommended Deer Scram. I emptied the entire container around my yard. (Not cheap and doesn't go far!) On top of that I went around with a cheese grater and bars of Irish Spring soap- read that on another thread somewhere - and left our dog outside till 10:00 PM. Woke up at 5 AM with trepidation and thankfully the roses were still there.

Surrounding my property with 8' fencing seems untenable at this point especially because they are also coming through the front yard and I have roses in the front. I was looking through the Lee Valley catalog and they have a 7' high invisible mesh that I might try all along the backyard where we are bordered with woods. Anyone have success with that?

I've thought about putting a white picket fence in the front yard for looks at some point - maybe that would at least discourage animals? It seems to me they can still come through the driveway unless we put in a gate. LOL. Our house in not nearly that grand. I don't know. I'll have to check out that electric fencing idea.

It's war I tell you!

Picket fence? Anything less than 6 feet tall, minimum, will not deter them, They can, in fact, leap over a 7 foot fence if they are really motivated, so 8 foot is the recommended minimum. They will laugh themselves silly if you present a polite 4 or 5 foot picket fence, expecting to keep them at bay with that. No joking, these animals are very persistent and new growth/buds on roses are "deer candy", even on Rugosas.

Hehehe. I see your point. I don't have a problem doing that in the backyard but gosh I just can't see completely surrounding our front yard with 8' fences. It would be nice to see photos of what others have done if possible.

Also found the link below -- anyone have experience with the wireless deer fence?

Here is a link that might be useful: Wireless Deer Fencing