This is before trouble.Here he is down to the one branch of leaves. A couple of denuded branches are outside the cage. Sadly, the perp is in the flipped over trap. His roots are still there. Apparently, he needs thoughts and prayers.

Somehow, he was so delicious. My Aunt Margy's Rose had the same trouble, and is hanging in there, but at least is not a Tea rose which seems better to me with the Teas slow to start and hating pruning. I just hope he can make it.

What a beautiful before picture. Hopefully, since a new rose it won’t notice too much that it has been pruned and will come back. I checked HMF and one comment says it does extremely well in heat! Now it’s on my wish list.

Shiela, I am sorry about your rose. Your first pic looks beautiful with those gorgeous blooms. You had it well protect. I hope you catch the voles.

Ingrid is right ! As long as there is life there is hope. It will grow. Teas have survived for generations. I am very certain it will grow and yes they are fussy and slow growers. But I am certain it will grow and I am leaving the winter part to you bec you know best. I know nothing about winter and roses. When my tea died ( temperature shock ) to ground level and forgotten at a corner. It put out new growth. Now, I have 2 Le Vesuve. Teas are amazing survivors. So I have a great vibe about your tea. Don't give up but catch that v o l e. Everytime I type that word my auto correct always kick in and changes the word so many times finally I space it out...sorry !
I will be reading this thread and pls keep us updated as season changes.
jin

FWIW I have some tea roses that are pruned absolutely to the ground every winter, and at least some of them have come faithfully back. Maman Cochet is the best of them, and while she's nowhere near the beauty she'd be elsewhere she does survive this pruning. I do agree with the responses that teas are tough in your climate and that she'll recover from this inadvertent and unwelcome pruning from your little vole. At least he/she has paid the price of being greedy.

Cynthia

Thank you, Cynthia. That is so great to hear about your Teas recuperative powers. Yes, a little nip here and there would have been one thing, but this vole went all out ballistic. I wish I had known to put the traps in earlier, but I never know where the next attack is coming.

That's so frustrating Shelia! I wonder if there are some scented companion plants that would deter them...maybe chives or oregano?

I don't feel good about leaving poor Pierre defenseless like he was. I did have one cage, then added gopher scram, but I think the traps or Gopher Hawk seem to be the most direct solution. The hardware cloth second cage is small for the remainder of Pierre's leaves but he can't live like that forever. Maybe there is a plant deterrent but I don't know if this vole was reasonable. Chives and oregano would be very pretty. Voles hit in Alaska too, where they would girdle branches on roses and cut off my clematis at ground level that bloomed on old wood. I think I should have gotten the traps out earlier, really. Thank you for helping.

Sheila, Pierre is a lovely guy (I'm sending my tots and pears for him), quite exquisite, as Ingrid said, and obviously vole crack. So, I can't feel really sorry about the perp. I use mouse bait on voles, which some may not like using if they have dogs. We have voles all over around here and never once have they attacked roses. Ours must be the meek and mild type vole-ha. Several years back they really messed up parts of our lawn, though. I do hope you find the right repellent to use on the dastardly voles. Diane

Thank you, Diane. I do have a small dog so I can't use mouse bait, but I can surely see why people do. I hope this isn't a case of the beautiful dying young because Pierre is/was beautiful. Sometimes, I just don't know. I'm not giving up.

Shelia,
I wonder if a neem oil spray on the leaves and lower branches would make them taste bad enough so the voles would focus on other plants? We have huge grasshoppers, up to 5 inches long, that fly in to the yard. I read up on what to do and neem solution was proven in a scientific study to prevent them from eating the leaves. Apparently acts as an appetite suppressant, (ie. removes desire to eat). So I didn’t even have to get total coverage on every leaf since I think the neem smell wafting around on the plant was enough. I haven’t even seen them in my yard since I sprayed. 1 teas neem oil, 1/2 teas dish soap to one quart hot water. Shake up well, let cool, then spray on leaves. Neem smells a little like garlic to me. I also added copper to the neem mix earlier this spring as a fungicide. Paul Neyron has no rust now.

Neem oil can be used as a drench too. If the roots absorb the stinkiness, maybe they won’t be so tasty. If you are purchasing neem oil, look for the cold-pressed version...much stronger. :-)