Roses and friends

A deer has been eating my roses for years. I have seen her only twice, but I know she is a regular visitor from the condition of my roses. Throughout the year I fertilize, add new mulch, and water the roses. New leaves and buds come quickly in response to the care. I am lulled into thinking the deer has moved on. Then all of a sudden, there are only bare twigs.

I understand the deer's repeated assaults on the antique roses that have no thorns-- Duchess de Brabant and Madame Joseph Schwartz, Le Duchet, La Marne, Mutabilis (the one the tree fell on), St. David, Louie Philippe, and the little unnamed sport of Cecile Bruner. Roses taste good. But this summer I realized the deer is also eating the Altissimo, which has monstrous thorns, and the Alachua Red Climber, which has little ones. The only roses she doesn't like at all are the Mermaid and the Cherokee, and those are the only roses I wish she would eat, because they are so vigorous that they need frequent trimming. Several years ago, The Duchess de Brabant stopped growing on the side most accessible to the deer, and instead grew up into the Mermaid for protection. Smart rose.

A month ago, desperate after years of trying this and that remedy, I purchased an organic spray and began applying it once a week. The roses have leaves again, and even a few blooms.