I wouldn't trim them further yet or order replacements. They'll probably make it back since the grafts are buried.

I only know two (well maybe three) possible solutions; a) chicken wire around the ones you most want to protect, b) coyote/cougar urine applied frequently. Outside of that, a dog or a firearm are the most permanent fixes.

Were the roses bitten down to 4-6 inches from the *ground* or 4-6 inches from the *snowline*. If the latter, it isn't really an issue.

After snowy winters, I always have to delay my pruning until the snow is all gone, since otherwise I totally misjudge how much cane I'm leaving. Those little snow mounds are always bigger than I think.

Gallica, I somehow did not even think about that and my snow cover was an estimate. Went to look again and the grafted roses have between 8" to 12" of cane left from the ground and the bands only have about 4".

Professorroush, I went and got some chicken wire and am making cones right now. Thank you.

Because of a mild winter last year, the rabbit population exploded in my area. Last Spring I found several roses mowed off to 3" tall & on my 25' hedge of John Davis they damaged enough of the canes that I ended up pruning out about 50% of them. All came back OK but didn't put on the normal display of roses because they were busy regrowing new canes. I have used some repellents but have come to the conclusion that when you have a populatiom explosion, the need for food or starvation will overcome any aversion to a repellent. The only 2 methods that will truly insure rabbit protection for your roses & other plants are: (1) fencing--because of the amount of plants I have in my garden, I can't fence all of them so this method is used for to protect a few specimen & baby plants. (2)trapping--I used a live trap last Spring & caught 7 rabitts in 6 weeks. During the summer months I observed very little rabbit activity. Last Fall I saw a rabbit again & I trapped 2 again in Nov & Dec. Since then I've seen no fresh tracks in the snow & hopefuuly that will hold them off for a while. If you live in a rural area, you could use a pellet or .22 rifle but that is not an option for someone like me who lives in an urban area.

Forgot to add, I agree with professorroush that your roses will come back as you have the graft buried. In my z4 area, tender roses like HT's often only have 4-6" or less live cane in the Spring but come back just fine if they were healthy going into the Winter. A tip I use in bringing thse roses back is to give them some extra high nitrogen fertilizer for their 1st feeding. I used 1/4C per bush of lawn fertilizer (make sure its NOT weed-n-feed), 28-0-4 was the stuff I used last Spring plus some organic stuff. This will bring the plant back & then go back to your normal rose fertilizer for the rest of the season.

I was just out walking my sleeping roses today and found lots of rabbit damage. Branches lying on the ground and some hanging by threads. I'm mad at myself because we didn't get the chicken wire around the bed before the ground froze and I don't know if I can get stakes in now. For the most part they seem to munch the shorter minis down and don't really bother the big roses much. The minis are all own root and do come back pretty well usually though. As for the larger grafted ones, if you have snow cover and they've only eaten down to the top of that the roses should still be OK. They'll have to start from stubs but they'll come back. But then some years winter takes them down to stubbs too. Don't cut any more off for now unless it's something hanging that could potentially tear back the bark further. I just clipped off the dangling branches and left them lay on the snow. Hopefully bunny deterrent? Probably not those wascally wabbits!

When I read about branches torn off and debris lying on the ground, I think--oh, oh, deer. Are you sure you're not having some deer, as well as rabbit, damage? Deer tear everything so badly and don't make neat cuts with their teeth, and they just waste most of what they rip off. Out here, we have pygmy rabbits, and perhaps, some crosses of pygmies and regular sized rabbits, and those little guys don't do much damage, just chew on the grass. Sometimes, they'll pesticate a flower or two, but they're so little, they don't reach far up. I had a few cosmos one year that were bald lower down on the stems, and I could see exactly where the pygmy bunny just couldn't reach any higher. Those flowers looked pretty funny, but continued to bloom at the tops. Anyway, I hope it's just pesky rabbits, and not deer, and that all your roses come back fine this spring. Diane

Cats or dogs. Cats are more efficient, don't bark, don't dig, or ride rough over the garden. They will also prevent ground squirrels/chipmunks, moles, voles, gophers. It really is their job to control the population of rodents and such ad they do a very good job of it. Nature's own solution.

Wirosarian, unfortunately we live in a small city so can't shoot. However, thank you for giving me optimism and I will make sure I get some nitrogen rich fertilizer for the first feeding.

Sorry for your damage Seil. It took me a few minutes to realize I wasn't seeing things as the rose bushes still had leaves and were quite taller when I visited them yesterday. Thankfully they had only gone through one rose bed before I got repellant today and put some cages up.

Nandoll, thankfully I don't see a lot of deer around here as we are quite urban. 98% of mine were definitely rabbits as the cuts were clean at a 45 degree angle and there were rabbit droppings all over the place. The broken branches I believe were from my dogs when I let them out late last night and wasn't keeping an eye out. I can't imagine they could stay out of the beds if the saw rabbits. They ran right back there first thing this morning which was what made me investigate.

Catsrose, we have two dogs but we travel Monday through Friday for work and the dogs come with us. I would very much love a cat but would feel terrible leaving it alone for days at a time, even if it could come in and out as it pleased.

Thank you tons for all of the advice! I am keeping my fingers crossed for Spring!

Many years ago when I lived on a farm, barn cats & farm dogs were a very effective rodent/rabbit control. Unfortunately times have changed. In the city & even some rural areas, it is a violation of leash laws to allow cats & dogs to run loose. In the last few years coyotes have been establishing themselves in the city & they are taking house cats that are left out so "nature's solution" works both ways. A friend who lives in a rural area tells that you have to be more protective of your cats & dogs because coyotes, wolves & bears are becoming more common.

I sure do miss my favorite neighborhood tom cat, Opie! He belonged to my neighbor across the street but he was an outside cat and really belonged to the whole subdivision. He roamed freely and everyone knew and loved him. When Opie was alive I never had any problems with rodents. He passed away several years ago and things haven't been the same since. We have mice and rabbits and who knows what else galore. And thanks to my ditsy neighbor behind me there's plenty of habitat for them! She has the worst dump yard around and I can not convince her to clean it up. She says it's compost! When in reality it's just garbage piling up! I mean seriously, since when is old wood boards, bricks and broken household items compost? So of course the critters have found great places to hide, nest and breed in her yard.

Diane, the deer are getting closer to me but fortunately have not been sighted in our area yet. The day will surely come though! There have been sightings of wolves though! And although a lot of people are alarmed about it I welcome them to keep down the vermin population!

One of my garden projects is to add a small garden tool shed (about 6x4) I think I will include a loft and place for food and water. The shelter often offers free fixed feral cats to people who want one for rodent control-you just have to provide a dry safe sleeping area, food and water and have a place to close them in for a bit. I want to wait til my new fruit trees are a bit taller and closer to production age, more cover for the little birds.

We have had trouble with a bunny! But a low roll of rabbit wire around the problem zones seem to have stopped his munching. I think one of the many hawks that live in the area finished off his garden raiding for us.

I have had occasional rabbit damage with my roses and veggie garden. I heard about sprinkling cayenne pepper on the leaves and around the base of the plant you want to protect. It seemed to work for me. You have to reapply after a rain or watering. You can also make a spray to coat the plant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Pest Control Gardening With Red Pepper

I've used that to keep the squirrels from digging up freshly planted bulbs in the fall. But it is labor intensive and has to be reapplied repeatedly.

My bunnies near the house changed areas because a big ole black snake moved in!

I didn't have many that must have survived each year. They didn't do much damage to my roses, but they would steal a few blooms and nibble small canes occasionally.

That snake really loves how my akebia has done around the top of my portico, so that's new. This past summer I kept seeing him hiding up in it like he's one of its branches.