Oh, Karen, I am so sorry! That's just awful. :(

Karen, I can't imagine a disaster like that. We don't have rabbits here, just deer. I complain about the deer, but in our benign climate they have plenty to eat 12 months of the year, and usually just nibble a bit on the roses.

Yes, I would make cuttings from the rabbits cuttings - can't hurt at all, and you may get several new roses to make you feel better.

Jackie

Armide, next to an almost totally ignored Hansa.

Rush Family Gallica (to be fair this one has been a mildew magnet, and I was considering replacing it with a different Gallica.

Russelliana... sobs. This had 5’-6’ canes last summer.

This is what I had expected to see. My Great Maiden’s Blush has a nibble or two, but nothing I mind. You can see Hansa around the corner, and Barbara Oliva on the right was wrapped. You can see her peeking out of her landscape fabric, no worse for wear. Thank Goodness!!!

Karen, I am so sorry. Jackie is right , try to see if you can root some. I am speechless looking at your roses. It is awful :(

Jin

I'm so Sorry! I hope they bounce back fine in Spring!

Oh, Karen, that is terrible. My heart is still aching from what rabbits did to a dozen of my roses last month. All of my chewed roses are young and I am astonished that they went for more mature roses in your case. I know how heart-broken you must be now. Yes, taking cuttings would be a good idea. I wish I had done it myself.

I thought of you when I saw them today Vesfl. I had this happen my first Autumn here too, so I know better. Which is why every baby rose is snuggled in their wraps, and many of the older ones too- I ran out in December and threw my old windbreaker around Marianne when I realized they were after her. I don't check as often on the west bed though. I know what I'm doing next Autumn! ugh. I was really looking forward to Russelliana and Armide this summer too.

Karen, I remember an interesting thread when Paul Barden identified your Russelliana. It was very educational and I plan on getting it one day. Hope you get at least one more from the cuttings. So glad you saved Marianne, such a gorgeous rose. Do you have problems with rabbits after the roses leaf out or is it during winters only?

Oh they nibble here and there, especially newly planted roses. The squirrels will happily steal the sweetest buds. In particular they seem to love Clotilde Soupert and Scentimental. I dust with a bone meal/blood meal combo, which deters them and feeds the soil, whenever I notice damage. Absolutely nothing like the sort of damage they do in the winter though. I'm happy to let them chew down the raspberry canes, which leaves me with no work to do in the spring. This, however, leaves me wanting rabbit stew...

Karen, you made me giggle the thought of having rabbit stew brought memories..you can't he always too smart and gets away. You being Elma Fudd just got me laughing.. sorry...." What's up doc?"

Sorry again. Just trying to make you smile.

Jin

Vestfl, I was also thinking about you when this thread came up. I just could not remember your name. How are your roses doing now ?

Jin

Jin, they still look the same as on Karen's photos, short canes et al. Everything is covered by snow here and there is no new growth usually until April. All but one were once bloomers which means unlikely to bloom at all this season. Sadly Karen's chewed roses are also once bloomers.

I hope it will bounce back to growth. Was wondering , did all those chilli peppers work? It must have, I can't believe how fast you work the same day actually within hours to secure your roses before you caught your flight.

I hope both you and Karen's will grow back . I know it is hard because if that happens to me, I will be Elma Fudd for sure.

Karen , you might as well secure the remaining of the roses just in case if they come back.

Jin

For some reason I don't have a full bed shot during the June flush, but here is the bed in high Summer, in August. You can see Russelliana arching over the trellis, a few blooms on Therese Bugnet waaay in the back. There in the shade of my Rio Negro lily is a well hidden culprit, one of the summer's baby bunnies. So cute, so destructive. Boy my Black Beauty lilies need staking this spring!

Here (a month later) you can see Rush Family Gallica and Russelliana to it's left. My Mrs Robert H Brydon doing her ground cover thing to help me keep the weeding down.

Thank you, Jin. I can't say if chili peppers worked because there is a chicken wire fencing around each rose by now so rabbits couldn't get close to the roses any more.

Beautiful lilies, Karen.

Here is mine up close, Jin. As you can see it’s a great plant here in the north to feed the bees in the Autumn. Mine gets blasted by afternoon sun so it’s more of a lavender then the richer purple it can be in light shade. It’s super pretty with the rugosas blooming in the Autumn, it marries well with pinks and magenta’s.

I love my Russelliana. It wasn’t an intentional purchase, but it’s a great rose, and takes the winter beautifully. I didn’t even have tip damage last Spring. The buds have glands that produce a wonderful balsamy scent; like moss roses only they aren’t mossy. I was very excited to train it up the wall. That will have to wait- but with a well established root system it will hopefully throw out some big canes for me this spring. It’s one of those purples that don’t photograph well, unfortunately.

If your roses don't come back and your cuttings don't work let me know. I grow both of those, although both just got put in the ground last fall, I would be more than happy to try and root some for you. My rooting, isn't great but I'm going to try more methods in Spring, so I'll try some of them too after spring blooming. I hope yours come back good though. That would be best!

Karen, I'm so sorry the wascally wabbits decided to "prune" your roses for you. I hope there weren't any fatalities... it doesn't look like it, so there's a silver lining.

And now you don't have to wrap everything, and then wonder if you really needed to. Yes, you do!

Absolutely a good idea to see if you can propagate those canes. Even if they don't take, it's good practice, and we learn more from trying and failing than we ever can from not trying. And if you succeed, that's even better... it's good to have back-up plants and/or plants to share.

43 days until Spring. (Or is that 'Fake Spring'?)

Virginia

Aaaargh! Peter Rabbit and MacGregor's Garden Assassins are like a plague of bouncy, floppy eared, fluffy tailed locusts swooping in for a morning of mass murder. I'm so sorry, Karen! Gardening reminds me of waiting for children to reach an age of independence. Just when you think you can let down your guard and relax just a hair.... Or should I say hare? Let us know what cultivars are withholding bloom until next year, and we'll post Alba and Gallica photos for you to view. I wonder if a well armed Stanwell Perpetual would give pause in the midst of the feeding frenzy? (Just an evil thought.) I'm glad your roses have strong roots. Phoenixes will rise! Carol

Thanks Everyone.

Vesfl- Thanks for the complement on the lilies. I love them, and they are great rose buddies. I'm still getting used to the non-oriental lilies, which need to be staked. I've been spoiled up to this point.

Alana- I'll let you know. I'm hopeful that Armide and Ruselliana will pop back up from their roots, or maybe dormant buds under the snow line. I've got work to do once the arm weather finally makes it this way!

Carol- I've been meaning to try a Spin hybrid or two in my garden. I think this is the year! The rabbits don't seem to have much interest in the very thickly prickly rugosas- they nibbled a bit on my Snow Pavement, but that one is young, and the rugosas just pop back up like weeds anyhow (I REALLY need to give my Hansa a good whacking, I have a hard time being severe with the pruners some times). I hope the spins may be the same.

Either way- lesson leaned. Wrap Everything. Just wrap it up. Even if your roses end up looking like the world's homeliest Christmas lawn ornaments. (Which mine do! lol). Wrap the roses, wrap the summer bearing raspberries, wrap the honey berries. Wrap, wrap, wrap, or use chicken wire. Barriers for the bunnies.

I don't have Armide, i have Rush Family and Russelliana.

Alana does your Rush Family mildew for you? Admittedly you are in a far different part of the country... Mine seems to be a mildew magnet every year in late summer/early fall. None of the other gallicas are.

No it hasn't for me so far. How long have you grown it? Maybe it will grow out of it or not be so bad.. I hope it will. I got my first flowers last year and they were so beautiful. I only got one or two flowers, but OMG they were just so beautiful! I cannot wait for spring!

Does anyone know if "Rush Family Gallica" and "Canary Island Gallica" are the same or similar? It's hard to tell from photos, but the flowers seem alike to me.

I have "CIG", but it's a young plant yet, and I'm not sure how much maturity it needs to flower. Since it blooms in conditions like mine in south Texas, I'm expecting that it will flower here; maybe even this spring?

I'm not sure Virginia, I've never looked into Canary Island Gallica. Here's a close up of a flower from my Rush Family if that helps:

A nice sized flower, good petal distribution and it shatters cleanly. (Also don't do what I accidentally did and plant it next to another purple. Russelliana outshines it) It's just ugh.... all the mildew. Every summer, three summers in a row. We pretty much always have a round of PM come through the gardens in late August- it hits the cucurbits, peonies, the non resistant phlox, and this guy. (Also Nearly Wild- holy moley, that one is bad too... I don't grow it, but every pot of it at work was mildewy).

Thanks, Karen- that's a pretty flower, but doesn't much resemble what I think "Canary Island" blooms look like, unless the color is quite variable.

Mildew isn't much of a problem here; black spot is pretty common, however.

Virginia

I'm so very sorry, Karen, that's simply awful, especially since I understand your roses bloom only once. I gather you'll still have roses in other parts of your garden, but Russelliana alone is a big loss. Gardening in your zone must be really tough without having this added heartache.

Virginia I think they are both different coloring.

Karen I do feel your pain I had a vole get my SDDJ ( souviner de dr jamain)and if he doesn't come back this Spring I will have to replace him. Cats are slacking

So is my Collie! He makes so much noise, you would think any rabbit would be scared to sit in my yard, but no. He's totally harmless... unless you are a shrub planted on that one corner. He has taken out everything I've planted there. Runs his line right by it, and grinds the planting to death. Luckily its way too dark for roses there. Knock on wood I haven't had voles or gophers so far.

We get Blackspot too, but the only one of my roses who gets hit really bad by it is my Hansa, whose leaves end up just embarassingly black by the end of the year. She just shrugs and keeps going though.

Ingrid- I do have plenty of others to console me. Lots of babies, I'm eager to see how they get through the winter. I'm expecting big shows from Great Maiden's Blush, Henri Martin, R. centifolia, my rugosas, Mustialan Ruusu, Barbara Oliva... the list goes on. This will be the first full year for my beloved Madam Hardy and Charles de Mills (why are they so hard find some years?!) so I can't wait for them to wake up and do their thing.