One person in HMF stated that rabbits leave Queen of Denmark alone. That's on my wish-list. Rabbits leave tall roses alone in my zone 5.

Deer are the only critter problem I have currently, and there is not a single rose of mine that they won't sample. The many petaled, succulent, sweet smelling roses are their favorites, but in a pinch, any rose will do. Further, there is no other flower I grow that deer are particularly interested in, and lots of flowers and plants deer seem to hate. It's roses, roses all the way in my garden. I'll be happy to share the deer "hate list" if any of you are interested. Diane

I'm not sure if my squirrels are discerning. They seem to randomly bite any rose....I find fewer squirrel bites once my strawberries start to ripen.... then I find half eaten strawberries around. I guess it's the nature tax I owe.😅

Some roses like Abraham Darby and James Galway have prickles under their leaves that animals don't want to eat. Got stabbed by Abraham Darby when I grabbed its leaves, and James Galway also has prickles under its leaves.

The plastic ones? That's not even a sure bet with rodents. My critters (deer, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, voles- I hate voles- chickens, assorted farm animals) do not discern between roses. ANY rose that they can reach is fair game.

Would you believe we have never had critters touching our roses for probably 25 years of the almost 29 years we have lived in our home? Truth. Makes no sense. People swear by hanging pieces of Irish Spring soap in little bags off of stakes around plants. I may try that around some of the most vulnerable rosebushes (American Beauty, Happy Go Lucky and Violet's Pride) The cages around these may have kept the rabbits at bay, but not the squirrels. I wonder if it is even worth having cages around them as we don't see many rabbits in our yard, tons of squirrels and chipmunks. Red pepper around the bushes tends to work to a degree--but it dissipates after a couple days even when it doesn't rain--so have to keep up on it. People have mentioned putting plastic forks around a bush. My question is how in the world can that work unless one has very long handled sturdy forks. Squirrels would just jump above little plastic forks & probably eat them like they eat our plastic hose reel.

Plastic forks? hahaha. Sorry, that's my answer. I forgot to mention that I have hundreds of quail that congregate behind, in, and across from my yard. They are as pesty as a barnyard full of chickens with their dust bath bowls, eating of expensive seed and seedlings, and constant scratching on our back slope that heads down to a big, undeveloped gully. Lots of erosion. Quail live in the sagebrush and scrub covered hills all around. I have to admit that they are hilarious and entertaining, especially in spring with their adorable families and dueling males. Diane

Do you squirrels, etc. have a source of water? Give them a safe spot to drink and bathe (a rough, concrete birdbath works well, nothing smooth or slippery) and they may leave your plants alone.

JoJo, we have a bird bath with water far away from the roses. They just eat everything, I give up.

Why not offer the squirrels a towel and some nice mixed nuts while we're at it? Diane

Rosa Rugosa, Rosa Rugosa Alba. About 7 years ago I saw a young doe walk up to RR. Took one little nibble, shook her head while backing up and walked away. That is the closest I've seen ANY critters get to these two bush's.

Diane, it's no joke! In my previous garden I was losing tomatoes, berries, flower buds... Finally someone said "Perhaps they're just thirsty?" I installed three different bird baths (it was a big garden) and that did the trick! All the critters loved the cheapest one made from rough concrete -- the squirrels were all over it like it was made from suet :)

Our animals always have a fresh bird bath filled with water, so no excuse. They are just crazy & destructive.

Well that's terrible! I guess there's not much you can do. Too bad you can't build a mesh greenhouse around your garden that you can walk into, but squirrels can't get into. Sigh.

:(

Starting 2-3 years ago the squirrels started eating the new young growth on all my roses, no differentiation between type. Someone on another thread (also in NYC) says it fluctuates with the type of winter which I think affects food access. Though the past 2 winters were very different, so....
The only difference (re rose type) we see is that the rebloomers go on to recover, but for our once blooming Alchymists - that’s it — they’ve eaten what might’ve bloomed. They are undeterred by thorns and just run up the canes chomping. We’ve do have a lovely bird bath out there...

aerbk7b, although they do tend to leave my Dick Clark & Hot Coco alone, maybe because they are taller bushes--but also thornier.

nickjoseph - lucky! Neither height nor thorniness seem to deter our NYC squirrels.....

aerbk7b, I think it is the crazier younger squirrels. Our weather patterns haven't been that eratic over the years, & the last 3 years is when they started eating the roses--after almost 29 years of living in our home. We have a blond tailed squirrel--probably a little diva witch.

A decade ago I started a compost pile and NO MORE VOLES mess up my lawn digging for grubs. Squirrels leave my roses alone with lots of food to eat from the compost (veggies & fruits). It's hilarious to see squirrels eating a large tortilla that completely cover their face.

But rabbits are picky, they won't eat roses' leaves that I pruned off, they want to eat from the bush. Rabbits won't eat thornless Annie L. McDowell (less than 1 foot tall) since there are prickles under Annie's leaves, same with Abraham Darby (stabbed me really bad when I touch its leaves).

Back in 2012 I ordered a dozen own-root bands from Burlington nursery. It was too late at night to plant, so I left a bar of Irish Spring soap in front of the bands to deter animals. In the middle of the night I woke up to a sound of some animal choking, coughing, and hacking .. that went on for 15 min. In the morning, the bar of soap was gone, and I found a trail of bits of soap coughed up across my garden. Real pain to pick up many tiny bits of soap from the grass. Most likely a racoon ate that since the hacking & vomiting noise it made was loud.

strawchicago z5, so can we assume they will eat anything or that maybe it really is a deterrent or maybe both? Hmmmmm

Deer don't give a darn about Irish Spring soap or even Dial--ha. Diane

Straw - hard to believe an animal ate a bar of Irish Soap! Weird. :)

I can see why Minshen's big hazelnut tree deters both rabbits and squirrels from chewing roses. I had 2 corkscrew willow trees with plenty of branches for animals to chew on. Last year one willow tree got chopped down, plus I burn branches for biochar. Rabbits devoured my roses last year since they had no branches to chew on.

An excerpt from below link: "There's a biological reason for rabbits' constant chewing. Their teeth grow continually all their lives, and in the act of chewing, the teeth wear against each other, which keeps them trimmed. Because your rabbit needs to chew, provide a variety of safe, chewable items. Branches from apple or willow trees, safe rabbit toys, untreated willow baskets and toys, untreated grass mats, and cardboard all make good chew toys for rabbits."

https://www.thesprucepets.com/train-rabbit-not-to-chew-everything-1239292

I saw rabbits eating young clover plants. Rabbits like to bite buds off from roses, but NOT eating the buds.

strawchicago, it's not rabbits as the metal cages around the fragile rose bushes are still getting eaten. No way rabbits can get inside--so I'm pretty sure it is the squirrels.

Straw - interesting...:) :)

Straw - we have a very accessible compost pile all year round and the squirrels never go for that. Do you notice what they’re eating in your pile?
And about the willow thing — are they just eating up your willows instead of roses? Do they defoliate/damage the willows? I need to plant or put up a privacy screen and wondering if willows could serve dual purpose...?

Willow trees are frightening invasive, they crack sewage pipe to steal water. Last fall I got bids from $900 to $500 to chop that huge willow down. One neighbor planted 2 willow trees by her large patio to shade, and roots went far from its canopy to crack the foundation of her basement, costing her $5,000 to fix plus chopping down the trees.

In my former house, squirrels chewed on the wooden-roof-overhang, despite walnut trees nearby. In my present house, squirrels chew on the bark of my willow trees, birch trees, and they eat pears from my trees, plus fibrous veggies in the compost pile plus stale tortilla.

Dwarf fruit-pear trees don't have invasive root since it's a slender tree, but neighbor's Bradford Ornamental tree is fast growth and split into half during a storm. In the winter when my compost pile was covered with snow, husband threw out dog-food for the strayed kittens to eat, and the squirrels ate that instead. The squirrels prefer those large bird seeds over the dog food.

The neighbor had a bird feeder on a tall post, and the squirrels climbed up the post to steal the bird seeds. Google "poisonous foods for squirrels", and it listed: "Avocado skin/pits, Fruit pits/seeds, and moldy or sour corn can be toxic and even fatal to squirrels." The fruit pits in my compost pile are never eaten, and the squirrels never dig up the holes which I fixed my clay with cracked corn.

my mom's had success with coyote pee to deter the deer. Her Frida Kahlo (I shudder at all that bright color) roses got annihilated by deer a couple weeks ago and she's had no issue since. Squirrels haven't been an issue but it might be because they can get seeds from the bird feeder and prefer that?

Predator pee doesn't work here, but your mother may have another species of deer pest, probably white tail, if she is in the East. We have mule deer. I've tried so many deterrents, but found just one that works most of the time. I've eve used cat clumped pee balls from the cat box. That was nice, and so difficult to place in a rosebush. Diane

I think we have white tail--I'm in Wisconsin pretty close to @nickjoseph Milwaukee, WI. What ultimately worked for you, Diane?

I've now used Deer Out for quite a few years, Aaron, and found it to work best among all the other stuff I've tried. Like many repellents, it contains rotten eggs as its active ingredient, plus oil of white pepper, and oil of peppermint (which helps the stench). I buy a concentrate to mix with water, which is by far the cheapest way because this stuff is hardly cheap to start with. I buy it Amazon and pay no shipping. I spray it on with a pump hand sprayer. Yes, I've been backsprayed many a time (watch out for breezes), but smelling like rotten eggs is a small price to pay for your roses. Actually, the smell goes away quickly, and it's mostly peppermint you smell. We have very little rain all summer, so I don't worry about that. Diane

Back to my main topic (squirrels), hee-hee---I have pieces of Irish Spring soap in little mesh bags tied to metal stakes around the Happy Go Lucky yellow bush the squirrels normally chomp all the buds off--especially as the buds start to show yellow. I did this about 1 1/2 weeks ago. We've had a lot of rain in the last several days. Still smell the soap, maybe not quite as pungent. Have a number of buds, nothing nipped off yet (but then it could be because the yellow isn't showing on the buds yet). Hopefully it is because they can't stand the smell (I could only wish & hope). Wonder how often one must change the soap out.

nickjoseph - I really hope that this is the solution you've been looking for!! So easy too! Keep us posted. :)

Ditto, If I ever have a squirrel problem, I want to remember what is effective. Cats are pretty good at harassing squirrels, I've found, and if you feed birds, a squirrel proof feeder is essential. Otherwise, they tilt the feeder, spill the seed, and gobble it up. Diane

We had squirrels in the beginning of our bird feeder on a pole constantly eating the food until we put a plastic, then a metal baffle. They could not figure out how to get on the metal baffle & gave up. We shall see with the Irish Spring. I'm not holding my breath yet.

I have a deer proof, squirrel proof, quail proof feeder. It's a heavy iron cage that only small birds can enter and eat from a dispensing tube with perches. The hanger is squirrel proof, too, and can't be chewed through. It took several hangers before we found the right one. This feeder has really worked for the past year. The lone squirrel that hung around for a while left our yard several months ago. What a relief. And the deer have given up swinging this heavy feeder, too. It has really cut down on my sunflower seed bill. Diane

@nickjoseph Milwaukee, WI I used a rotary cheese grater with irish spring to keep squirrels away but it didn't work for me--please let me know if your approach works for you!