I have deer. I have rabbits, but they are not very interested in rose canes, I think. They do seek and destroy new rose foliage that is within a foot of the ground. I have pocket gophers which mostly chew on rose roots, but they might also eat certain rose canes. I have coati which definitely eat the tips of apple trees, and so may eat rose canes. Not sure whether their cousins, the raccoons, are interested in rose foliage. And I have some other unidentified animal, perhaps squirrels, ground squirrels, or desert rats that eat rose canes less than 18 inches tall down to the ground. I have javelina which, I think, are responsible for eating a 2 ft tall rugosa rose to the ground and many other roses as well. Sometimes a rose will grow fast enough to escape damage. A few rare roses are not found to be delicious by any local fauna: Pink Pet, Mme Alfred Carriere, and Desiree Parmentier.
I will plant Dublin Bay, again. Last year's Don Juan was nibblied to the ground. The one planted in the ground was eaten by one animal and the one in the pot by deer. It will be an annual project well into the future. Red Eden has been a rather monumental disappointment, though it is the only red flowered climber that has not been nibbled to the ground here. Altissimo in three years, I think, got knee high. Florentina is on the long list. It just seems silly to grow roses and have no tall red ones. Chevy Chase is the closest I have to that right now.
