This is probably the most frustrating year we’ve had for growing roses since we moved here 20 years ago. In addition to the weather — extremely high temperatures, too little rain, too much rain — we’ve had continuing problems with the deer that live in our area (where they are protected).
Deer seem to think that roses make delicious meals and they wiped out every bud on the plants in our yard twice this Spring. The things we used to keep them away in the past (Liquid Fence and other repellents) didn’t phase the hungry critters at all. We were able to move some container roses onto the deck where the deer didn’t bother them, but the roses in the yard were one big buffet table.
In desperation we connected a garden hose to a motion detector and turned it on each evening, leaving it on until morning. Once we saw a young deer walk into a flower bed; the detector picked him up, the water came on, and the deer beat a hasty retreat. We’ve also seen deer making a wide detour away from our yard, which is fine with us.
We finally have some roses in the yard in bloom! An added bonus to this method of deterrence is that the roses often have water droplets on them, like the droplets on Wildfire in the picture above.
It’s so nice to have roses in bloom!
Senior Moments 