How to Keep Deer from Eating Roses

Our greenhouse and potting shed garden is blooming again- and it makes me a bit giddy to wander out there in the mornings and afternoons in the dappled sunshine. From a few random new foxgloves to wildflowers to the peonies and new garden roses- they are all almost ready to be blooming beautifully this year. Today, I am sharing a closer look at the roses we have planted over the years and how they look first bloom of the season- and a tip on how to keep the deer from eating roses.

Rose Garden

You might remember the rose garden area we planted in spring with All Dressed Up Roses. This is an older photo from when we first planted anything in this area. It does tend to get hot here so some sun protection is on the to-do list.

Just look at these beauties in bloom! If you aren’t familiar with these roses- we found them at Home Depot online and when they arrived- they already had very chunky stalk size – in comparison with some of the other garden roses we have planted that were more ‘wispy’ in structure.

Potting Shed Garden Roses

In the potting shed area- last year we planted 18 new roses in between the peonies and foxgloves. My husband really loved me while digging all those holes haha. We have since added more roses, foxgloves and peonies- and placed them all in wire baskets because of the gophers. 12 of the roses are The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild from David Austin Roses and 6 more of the Earth Angel from Heirloom Roses. We added white icebergs recently as well. See more about the Gopher Issue Here.

The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild roses are dainty roses so far- kind of like a climbing rose bloom. But this was just the first set of blooms as they were coming on- they are already gorgeous.

And they have a whole lot of ruffles! They are said to look much like peonies- which I think they may as they grow. They also have an old fashioned center- which reminds me of rambler roses.

Garden Paths Tips

FOXGLOVES TIP: Though they are not so attractive when they are dried stalks in the garden beds- leave them. They are going to seed and they will drop those seeds and create new plants. You can cut some of them and lay the stalks in the garden beds as well to encourage the seeds to get going and also clean up the overall look. We have done both here- I will let you know which one seems to work better.

LAYERS OF BLOOMS: Make sure to also plant things that bloom at different times of the year. For example- the earlier spring bloomers like peonies and lilacs will decorate the garden beautifully- but if you don’t have anything that blooms later- the rest of the summer will be a tad boring.

I love to plant things like sage, lavender, rosemary, lambs ear, catmint & other herb foundation type plants. Along with the later bloomers like the roses, butterfly bush and wildflowers. Currently, we have yarrow & hollyhocks and Allium in bloom in some areas- echinacea, foxgloves, etc. in others.

And we also have quite a few hydrangeas in bloom that I am ready to clip and bring indoors- along with some of those pretty purple roses.

Tips How to keep the Deer from Eating Roses

As you can see- we have a visitor coming through quite often. She was actually inside the gated veggie garden area the other day enjoying a few nibbles of tomatoes. My husband had left the gate open and she wandered on in. But what about those areas of the yard that are wide open? You can’t fence off everything to keep the deer from eating them of course. Side note- this picture is from several years ago- the trees and branches with foliage behind the potting shed almost all came down when a tree fell from across the gravel road and sideswiped all those trees. The tree that looks as if it is ‘forked’ is no longer there and actually, none of the cedar trees you see here are there. I would be lying if I said it didn’t make me sad to see how much the back of our property is missing so many of the beautiful old growth trees now.

But back to the deer- I am a bit odd… I don’t mind sharing some of the nibbles with the deer. I know they need to eat so, I don’t discourage them as often as I should right now. But we do use something on many of the roses so that they don’t come through and take everything down to nothing.

Liquid Fence

Liquid Fence is a spray that you can use to keep your roses and other plants from being eaten by deer, rabbits, etc. A couple things to know about using it: (linked below)

Number 1- it smells TERRIBLE. I cannot stand using it- my husband does the spraying. It smells like rotten eggs and garlic and a whole lot of grossness when you spray it. It smells on the plants for a bit too- so first thing to do is cut any roses you want to enjoy in the house- I don’t recommend giving them a sniff after spraying.

Number 2- You need to spray often for a bit. Every few days if you are overwatering- or at least a couple times a week when you first start. This will teach the deer to change their grazing path- they will learn they don’t want to eat those roses- because they smell and taste terrible and so- they go to another area (maybe your neighbors garden haha)

After they have learned to not go through and eat your roses- you can spray once a week or even once every couple of weeks and it will remind them if they get a wild hair.

Share the bounty

We have acreage and lots of deer who live right here on our property. Remember that buck that walked out of area by the pear tree while I was setting up a table? We share the land and bounty with them- but with the roses they have been known to come through and eat every. last. bit. of the buds and blooms and have damaged them enough they haven’t lasted. So, we do keep most of them sprayed. Do they sometimes eat the roses anyway? Yes. But we figure if they eat them when they smell that terrible- they need the food.

I hope this helps with any animal nibble issues you have – and inspires you to add a few David Austin Roses to your garden.

Since the garden is just now growing in this year- stay tuned for how everything is blooming soon. For now, I hope this post about how to keep the deer from eating every little bit in the garden is helpful. Happy Gardening all.