How to Save Roses from Deer

Article Courtesy of Garden Gate Magazine, tip by Edith Rizzi

Deer kept ruining Edith’s roses by nibbling the buds before they even bloomed! So she built a fence panel that’s easy to move and roll up for storage in the garage for winter. It’s simple to make and looks like the one in the illustration above.

To make one panel you’ll need two 7-foot 2×2s, some 2-foot-long wood scraps for the base, screws, wire and plastic deer fencing. Starting from the top of the 2×2 post, drill ¼-inch holes every 2 feet along one edge. Then attach the 2-foot pieces of wood to the post with screws to form a base. When that’s finished, set the whole thing up and attach the deer fence. Edith runs a pipe cleaner through the previously drilled holes to attach the fencing, but you could use wire or twine, too. You can always drill more holes if the netting needs to be more firmly anchored along the side.

See also Keeping Deer at Bay

When the roses start blooming in spring, Edith sets the fencing in front of the shrubs to block the deer’s access to her roses. When she wants to mow, she moves the fencing a few feet out of the way. In the winter, the deer don’t seem as interested in her roses so she rolls up her fence and stores it in the garage. Her fence panel worked so well she made three more for other areas of the garden.