You made me laugh out loud! They are so beautiful, how could you be mad at them?

They have a mischievous look Steve.... lol

Awwww, is just a cute wittle spotted pwecious....

(Mom's there to point out the tastiest rosebuds)

I love it!

I do not think they are "cute" and I feel your pain!

LOL! yes it IS cute. Tho I know its heart is a festering sink of pure evil using that adorable facade to fool people...

Saw my first a couple a weeks back. And the first ones in my yard--twins--this week.

Sorry, I'm basking in the glory of having a deer-fenced back yard (we didn't put it up, the guy that built the place did, & I hang halos over his head every time I plant anything). But when I try to expand the pot ghetto to the front yard, that spotted whipersnapper's gonna look like the embodiment of all evil.

For years we have fought deer, fenced for deer, sprayed for deer, ate deer, planted for deer, and on and on
Cute? , rats are cute, deer are mouths connected to legs.
But they seem to love roses as much as we do. Roses are like crack for deer. They just can't leave them alone. Except for the rugosas.
Good luck!

I'm so sorry for those of you who have deer eating your beloved roses. :/

But, Steve, Bambi is sooo cute on the monitor...
Sorry, just sayin' ... ;-)

Runnin' and hidin'...

The four hybrid teas I planted and PFG are budding and the cages are working. No more waking to massacres.
I'm spraying the other roses an it seems to be working and their foliage seems to tolerate it.

My wife was dead set against fences, but seeing the damage they do is tolerating the cages. No matter how tall the roses get, four feet in height is enough. When they got Portland from Glendora they left all new growth (including buds) over 3 1/2 feet alone. PFG has new growth to about 4 1/2 feet and has not been touched.

Deer are big rats and you can't get rid of them, but you can frustrate them.

I have no feelings at all for the "cute" deer. As someone once said, they are just stomachs on stilts. Diane

That's interesting about the short cages being effective. Around here deer are ubiquitous--you can hit one driving downtown or backing out your driveway.

Cages are universal. Really, I don't even notice them, they are just part of the landscape. Dunno if it grows well in your area, but rosemary (very deer resistant) is heavily used as a bedding plant, as are lavender & lantanas. I'm experimenting with planting them thickly as a living cage around roses.

Michael Shoup suggested a barrier of chicken wire laid slightly off the ground supported by bricks around roses. Deer won't walk on it & it can be disguised with liriope or other ground covers growing through it.

Glad to hear the cages & sprays are working.

They look a lot cuter when they are fenced out.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Thank you illegal out of season redneck hunters in my area for keeping them out of my yard!

Although, how could you kill that????? Tasty or not, they are so pretty.

The only comparison I can make to a rat however is the fact they seem to breed as fast. ;)

Eh, I love my new roses, but I love animals more.

At least at the moment...... If I ever have the problems you guys do with them, I'd probably change my tune.

They are just beautiful, but I'm sure I wouldn't think so if they were eating my roses. I used to think raccoons and armadillos were cute but no longer.

Nothing cute about these things. Here, they are often referred to as 'Hooved Slugs' by anyone/everyone who gardens or grows commercial food crops. Bloody destructive. I also like "stomachs on stilts"! Made me laugh.

You Floridians have given me some measure of comfort, at least. When at the ends of exasperation with the raccoons, who amuse themselves from time to time by rearranging the contents of the lily, lotus, and taro ponds, I always think, "At least I don't have armadillos!"

deervssteve - I note your comment about the deer not touching anything over a certain height. That has also been my experience, which is why most of the roses in my garden are either large heritage teas (most of mine get at least 8 feet tall & wide), or climbers. The climbers can be anywhere from 8 to 20 feet high, and I plant bulbs & things at the base of them. (So far in my experience, deer do NOT eat daffodils & narcissus.).

So, how about planting some climbers in your garden? You are in a nice warm zone, so the WInters should not be a problem. I plant mine in cages just like yours, and when they get big enough to survive a little low down pruning, I take the cages off.

If you prefer modern roses to old ones, there are still a lot of climbers. All of the roses in the attached picture are HTs or modern climbers, growing well above what I think of as "deer height". Just a suggestion -

Jackie

Ravenous rats with antlers or venison veal--yum!

jacqueline3:I have four climbers; Galway Bay is about 8 feet and the deer get some of the lower growth, an 8 foot Handel, a four foot Handel (butchered and it may grow back) and Red Wand about 8 feet. Portland from Glendora was an overgrown 7 feet and the deer only got some lower growth. After pruning it, the deer targeted it and I caged it.

You better know you're lucky, Cat. Armadillos are just like miniature tractors. What they don't dig up they motor right over the top of and flatten out. All of my taller perennials and annuals were laying on the ground this year. I'm seriously considering buying rolls of chicken wire and staking it flat to the ground in areas where I do my annuals and perennials as I do most of them from seed anyway. I had two smaller roses that they almost rooted out of the ground. I might stake down chicken wire around them, too.

The fawn showed up this evening solo. It is close to full size and the spots are fading. It was browsing on the scrub oak outside my living room. It saw me and bounded down the hill. It had to have walked past my caged roses in bloom. I smiled.

Feels really, really good doesn't it ?

I have two beds that are in tiers out in my front yard. I had widened the top bed and caged the roses the previous owner had planted in the top tier in individual cages last year.

This year, I modified my deer caging to enclose the whole bed of roses in the top tier. The other night I looked out the front door and saw two deer walking up and down the bed looking for a way in, but they couldn't get in ...hehehe.

I really did laugh out loud.

Smiles,
Lyn

Steve, I'm glad you didn't give up. I think you have begun to beat them now.

That baby deer is giving you the stink-eye...

He's saying, "come at me, bro!"