Marianne's Response

Carpet rose pests

I enjoyed your article on carpet roses in The News Tribune. Very tempting to buy these for accent color in my semi-shady yard or in large pots on the deck. However, your article did not mention whether deer feast on this type of rose like they do with hybrid roses. Nor does the Tesselaar website list deer in the pest section. Your experience???

Nancy Pearson

Posted by NANCY PEARSON on February 3, 2018

Marianne's Response

Oh dear - you can't stop the deer from nibbling these roses. In my garden the deer do snack on the new growth of the flower carpet roses if I forget to spray them with a deer repellent but I suspect the small leaves on these roses are not as tasty as the larger leaves on the hybrid tea roses. I say this only because the hybrid teas in my garden will have 80% of the foliage eaten if a deer gets into my front garden, while the flower carpet roses will show about 20% loss of foliage from a deer visit. If deer are a problem in your area then perhaps hydrangeas, lavender, rhododendrons and azaleas would be better choices - unless like me you are willing to use a combination of barriers to protect the roses.  I use fencing, deer repellent sprays and a motion detector that makes a noise when deer walk down my driveway.  Good luck and Keep growing, Marianne Binetti