I use just leaves to protect my roses. I run over them with the garden tractor using a mulching blade and direct the shredded leaves into the beds. I have an ample supply of oak leaves.
I make chicken wire cylinders and place them around the roses the rabbits like to eat. I have about 30 roses protected this way. They don't seem to bother the other 370 bushes. I've also had luck using 5 gallon buckets with the bottom removed and placed over the bushes.
The rabbits won't stop with the stragler stems. as winter progresses and they get hungrier they'll soon eat anything they can reach. You'll find canes cut off at an angle laying near your bushes.
Hope the roses you purchased were hardy varieties. If not and they're grafted you should make sure the graft is well covered. In the future, if you don't already, plant the graft 4-6 inches below the soil surface or purchase own root plants.
All mine are own root hardy shrubs or have the grafts planted deep.

Good suggestion on the 5 gal. bucket!...at least for smaller plants. Most of my roses I have are at least 3' wide.

Yes, all are own root stock. Hardy shrub types. They all performed admirably their first year.

Easy Elegance Sunrise Sunset, Northern Accents Lena, Pink Knock-out, Magic Meidiland, White Meidiland, Flower Carpet Pink Supreme. Rabbits tested all of them, except the Flower Carpet...I think because of its location.

What are the consequences of the rabbits eating the stems back before spring? Honestly I don't have the time to wire cage all my plants...unless the premature pruning is determental to the plant then I will.

For example its determental to Fothergilla in our area so I caged those up.

As long as they don't eat the bushes completely to the ground they should recover nicely next spring. One problem though, because the rabbits may get use to feasting on your bushes they may continue into spring, eating the new growth as it appears. New growth contains lots of sugars making it especially tasty to the rabbits. Eventually you'll have to find something to protect them or risk not having any roses next year.
For your 3' wide bushes, tie the canes together then slip the bucket over them.
Perhaps you could work on the wire cylinders through the winter. They look much better than the buckets.

I really don't have much of a rabbit population...but there are a few that are pretty aggressive during the winter. They started early this year (October), didn't do much in November though.

My yellow lab does a good job of patrolling my lot. She can't be out there 24/7 though.

Now that you mention tieing up the stems, I noticed the stems seemed limber/flexible.

For the wire cylinders, how do you store them? Do you flatten them and just reshape in the winter?

I have a fenced in stockade at the rear of my property where I store my big stuff when not needed but I realize many don't have the luxury of such a storage area.
Re; the wire cylinders,
If made correctly, a few bent wires or cable ties can hold the ends together. Straighten the wires or cut the cable ties and lay the piece out flat for storage. A five foot long piece of wire makes a cylinder large enough to fit around most of my bushes, if the canes are tied together when placing the cylinders on the bush or the cylinders are placed on the bush after spring pruning when they are smaller. Really large bushes are not a problem for me so I don't need larger cylinders. Any rabbit damage to them is not noticable. The rabbits seem to leave the taller and larger ones alone.
I don't advise flattening the cylinders. Trying to reshape them would be a daunting task. Unless you have a lot of patience, the reshaped cylinders would not be very nice looking. Mine are not that noticeable so I keep them on the bushes year round. No storage problem.
In summer, foliage grows out hiding the cylinders, and the bushes grow taller than their two foot height.

I like the suggestion of cutting set lengths and binding them with cable ties. Then just cut the cable ties and store the cylinder flat.

I was bending the ends to intertwine...bascially a pain.

I haven't noticed any rabbit damage during the growing season. The very little I had was late summer with damage to my Jolly Bee Geraniums and Black Chokeberry (both planted this year).

Thanks for good discussion.

I get lots of rabbit damage in early spring when the new growth is sugar filled, tasty, and tender. Once they start on a bush they keep it eaten down to the base well into the summer. Since I got a pellet pistol they seem to have sensed that and stayed away.

Nice on the pellet pistol! Any recommendations for a model?

I have one on my Christmas wishlist this year! I see those rabbits on the back lotline early evening. There are no homes back there so its free range. I've had so many oppurtunites to pop those buggers!

They eat my Weigelas to the ground ever year! But they come back nicely...they leave em alone once spring hits.

I guess I'll find out how they treat the roses in Spring. My yellowlab does a good job of keeping them scared for the most part.

I picked mine up at a tool sale at a local American Legion Post for $19. It's a break action model that charges with air when the pellet is loaded and the gun is closed. Requires no CO2 cartridges and seems to be pretty powerful.
My wife thinks it just stuns. She doesn't like that I kill them. I'll bury them in the rose beds right away.
Sounds gory but better than eaten or killed roses. The rabbits won't go into my live traps anymore. Guess they saw too many of their friends hauled off to the wildlife preserve.

our roses were insulated by nature last night. lol

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