I can tell you that for our deer, it's mostly random choice and convenience of location that determines what rose they will pick at any given meal time. I grow Ballerina, a hybrid musk, and the deer have never bothered her. She is also a single without scent, so that could be part of it. There are only two or three roses in my garden that the deer show a distinct preference for, and the A-1 All Time Favorite of our mule deer is, of a course, a favorite of mine--Evelyn! Diane

I've never heard of deer messing with Rosa Rugosa or Rosa Rugosa Alba up in my area. We have mostly White Tail Deer.

Rugosas are much less popular than other roses in my Swedish garden. All other modern roses are popular, Austins, HT', floribundas, and some of the old European roses but only those at munching height. Early in the season they snip off young shoots and later it's the fat buds that attract them. Another danger is the bucks rubbing their horns against trees and shrubs to mark their territory. I lost half a gooseberry bush and an apple tree was badly damaged because of this.

Minutes ago two deer were eating from the yew hedge but my husband happened to be outside and with the help of a neighbor they were scared away. We have lots of snow so there is not much else for them to eat now that they have already finished the bamboo. I suppose it's more convenient for them to dine here than in the woods not far away.

Mariennes, I could only hope mine would eat bamboo. I'm trying to eradicate mine, but it obviously isn't as tasty as roses! However, I may have finally fenced them out.... they are very clever at finding a way in if they already know there's something good to eat and a nice quiet place to sleep.

I've witnessed Deer eating off all the new growth from several of my Rugosas. I don't believe there is any rose they won't eat, if they have the opportunity.

In my garden deer seem to avoid some aromatic herbs (rosemary in particular) as well as plants that are poisonous, such as oleander, daffodils, and the like. They also have little interest in grasses. Other than that they will eat anything, and thorns do not deter them.

A fence and a dog seem to help a great deal.

Rosefolly

Deer will eat ANY rose, in my experience. Of course they are always partial to new growth, and rose buds are their very very favorite. As noted above, they do not eat poisonous plants, but unfortunately roses are not poisonous. Dogs are the best deterent - I think the deer's DNA makes them perceive them as their ancient enemy, the wolf. Next best comes sturdy, HIGH fencing. In my garden, which is 4 blocks from the downtown of a 60,000 pop town, we only get deer in ones and twos. We have so much for them to eat, and so many roses, that they do not do much damage - just nibbling around the edges. However, if I have a bush full of buds, or a brand new basal break just coming up and nice and tender, I do spray those with that rotten egg deer go away stuff. Works until the next rain.

Jackie

In my experience, the short answer to your question is NO, there are no classes of roses deer will not eat. They ate my musk roses and my rugosas to the ground. Don't be fooled into thinking that planting something they reportedly do not like in a circle around your roses will deter them, either. They will eat that, too.

Diane's mule deer did not like her Ballerina (musk), but my white tail deer ate mine. So, there may be a difference in the preferences of different kinds of deer. Nothing on the so called deer resistant plant lists ever worked for me. I live in a rural area where there are acres and acres of wild native plant life, but they prefer gardens, especially where they can wash your roses down with water from the bird baths.

In my experience in S Central Texas- deer eat every rose and even cacti and agaves during the hot months! What they don’t eat is damaged or destroyed from the bucks rubbing their antlers on the plant, tree or shrub. For things growing outside of the fenced yard - I’ve installed cages for protection. The only plants deer have stayed completely away from are lantana, oleander, salvias and rosemary.

I could go on ad nauseam about this. We were told to use Milorganite on the grass and deer would not come near our property. Five minutes after we finished spreading it on the lawn, a family of deer were curled up under the tree on the lawn for their afternoon nap.

I have used every homemade concoction and every commercially available repellant. From Scarecrow sprinklers (7 spaced around the garden) to fishing line tied from tree to tree. All I accomplished was stinking the area up so badly I couldn't go outside or getting soaked or tripping on my own traps.

I could stamp my feet, wave my arms and yell, throw rocks, run at them, and they stood their ground.

My grown daughter (city girl) opened the back door once and was face to face with one. They came up onto the porch to eat my pumpkins in the fall.

My big dog would chase them across the property, then here they come back again, chasing my dog. I think they were playing.

i've read that deer do not like/eat Lady Banks roses i've never tried them because the need large heavy trellis and i don't have that Lady Banks only grows in warmer climates, maybe zone 9 or so (?)

Have you tried making some sort of spray using a tea or puree made from hot peppers? Maybe if this was mixed with an anti-dessicant and sprayed for Winter it would "train" the deer that your roses are painful to eat when they're most hungry. Then maybe they'll remember that during the growing season.

I dunno....just tossing out an idea.

:-/

~Christopher

Deer definitely do not eat roses inside of compounds made of 10 foot high deer netting stapled to peeler poles.

No matter what kind of rose they are.

Mammals, including deer, do not eat the plants I have sprayed with red pepper wax. The wax helps it stay on through rainfalls for as long as a few weeks time. Now if I could only remember to get it on in time. I walked the garden today, after being away on a trip, only to find that they or the bunnies have already nipped the tops of the emerging daylilies. The gardening year has begun.

Cath

Well, it's good to know it's working for you, Cath....when you remember to use it. This is a possible challenge I might face at the cemetery, so I'll keep it in mind if it turns out there are rose-eating mammals wandering in.

:-)

~Christopher

Cath, can you spray the red pepper wax on blooms and buds, though, or just the canes? I would worry about the wax damaging them. I use the rotten egg based repellent currently. It's enhanced with peppermint oil and white pepper oil. But the repellent is diluted with water according to the directions. Diane

I am intrigued, Cath. I wouldn't mind trying red pepper wax, especially if you think it will keep away squirrels, chipmunks and raccoons as well as deer. Can it be washed off fruit and vegetables? Is it effective on young trees? Where do you get it?

Put me down for intrigued! I know pepper mixed with soapy water was the only thing that repelled squirrels from eating my tomatoes, so if the wax is benign, I'm game! The same mixture with the additions of garlic and eggs worked for deer, but washed off in the rain.

Diane, being my tidy self I spray it all over - with no harm done.

The first one I used was specifically for deer and ready to be sprayed, that is, not a concentrate. This is, however, the expensive way to go. The next one was a concentrate and I only discovered that it was for insects after I got it home. I used it anyway and it worked just as well once diluted as per instructions.

I know that it works with other mammals; rabbits, raccoons, squirrels and chipmunks.

I have not tried it sprayed on food and so do not know if it would wash off. IRRC there was nothing harmful in it but it has been a long time since I read the label.

Cath

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I think I'm going to start having to think about a fence. I've been lucky to only have two nibbled so far. I live in a wooded deer heavy area. This is also a place where deer hunting is really popular, and it's a favorite food around here. I still see them all the time though, so I think it's a good balance. If we had no hunters, I think they would be overpopulated and starve. My favorite food as a little kid was deer, and now I don't even eat meat. My husband on the other hand will hunt squirrel, rabbit, and deer to eat. I tell myself, at least it's not caged up hormone injected meat. I don't think it's healthy for me to be vegetarian, but meat grosses me out. lol When I met him, his Dad and him would often be eating squirrel for breakfast. I would just think omg rodent breakfast. ewwww They loved it though. lol Funny thing is he grew up in Cleveland but came here for summers as a kid, and is more hillbilly (in ways) than I ever was. I don't know too many people around here that don't have a freezer for deer.

Hmmm...welll...it seems like different deer in different areas like different things:)

I guess I'll just have to experiment and see what the deer here do and don't like. I live next door to a strawberry farm and they definitely graze over there as well as my garden. They must be very happy...haha. My next door neighbors also have a large and extensive flower filled garden. My neighborhood is the deer equivalent of a giant cruise ship with huge buffets!

I have two very sweet and lovable 12 year old Labs. They aren't scaring anything away. One of them is blind as well! haha

Re: deer not eating Lady Banks roses....the deer have decimated the lower half of my Purezza. It's small now and I'm sure once it puts on size I won't even notice some deer-munching.

Emothrium: 10 feet!! My plan for deer fencing is to put up an 8 foot fence. I can't change the plan now as I already bought the 10 foot peeler poles (2 feet of which will be in the ground).

Cath...maybe I can use the pepper spray on the roses that are outside the fence. I want to plant a rugosa hedge...although will spraying rugosa foliage damage it?

Rosy, 8' should work, but they'll find any small space to get in. Also, if they manage to find their way in NO fence will contain them if scared and are looking for an escape. I've been adding to mine all winter and it went from looking half-way decent to totally hillbilly. They couldn't see the fencing so I had to put some white plastic bags up.... then added double fencing in spots until the shrubbery grows larger. Fortunately, noone can see it from the street. I'm hoping to take some of it down once they forget about my place as 'home sweet home'. They are a PITA, but their babies are so sweet and I love watching the does take care of their little ones.

Anything sold as deer netting specifically should be tall enough, maybe what they sell is 8 ft. and I didn't remember it right - the poles being the 10 ft. part.

The netting and poles are cheap enough that if one is enclosing a normally sized home garden area surely the cost will eventually have been less than buying commercial deer repellents and spraying them over and over for many years. Plus fencing doesn't make the plants smell bad, or damage young foliage and so on.

You do have to walk the fencing periodically and be sure the netting is still in position, keep blackberries out of it etc. Stapled firmly to peeler poles it should keep them from going over, under or through - deer not being able to see the netting apparently confers the advantage that it is sometimes blundered into, resulting in confusion and avoidance. Also the mesh being comparatively hard to see by humans makes the installation more cosmetic - I definitely would not hang plastic bags on it!

vaporvac: what happened when they couldn't see the netting? Did they run into it and damage it?

Embothrium: I can't decide between deer netting and wire. Aside from cost, are there any advantages/disadvantages to wire?

rosy, I started out with netting for all the reasons given above. I already had a split rail fence and just planted the posts to line up with it. My situation may have been different because they habitually used my secluded "back forty" to sleep and have their babies. It wasn't a problem until I actually wanted to clear it out and plant things down there. I didn't use the bags with the netting as I wanted it to be invisible. Well, it was invisible to the deer as well as they just jumped right through it. Then I put up metal fencing which they also jumped through breaking all my wooden posts. So I put up a double metal fence with the bags. Sorry if they're not aesthetically pleasing, but I know they worked on preventing them coming onto my upper lever last year before I invested in the water scarecrow and finally put up a decorative fence there.. Anyway, I couldn't face having to replace the wooden posts a THIRD time.

Of course, they found the three areas I didn't think they could get to, so they now have metal fencing. You may not have these issues because they haven't discovered your house yet. A hedge also works. I have that where my fence is only 6" high and they won't breach it as they can't jump high AND wide.

Rosylady, I do not remember spraying the rugosa (Blanc Double de Coubert) but may well have as it sits next to a yew that was their favorite munchable. After a Summer of conscientious spraying every month or so they gave up the yew and don't bother it anymore. Maybe they're trainable. I wish!

Cath

Have you tried bird scare tape? It works so far for my small orchard, 7 potted rose trees on a patio and a few in ground roses at the countryside- the land of deer. The tape makes a lot of noise to keep the deer away. https://www.groworganic.com/bird-scare-tape-rainbow-500-roll.html