The deer strip mine, and don't seem to mind the thorns one bit. I've never seen them leave the stems, so I assumed they had ate the ones they bit off. I wouldn't rule out deer, because they definitely will eat roses.

Thanks for the quick replies. Well here in Eastern Mass we’ve got plenty of both rabbit and deer! I typically use Liquid Fence deer/rabbit repellent. Any other ideas?

Or Squirrels! This happened to me on my deck so it couldn’t be rabbits or deer. The deer here eat it all (everything, stem, flower, tree whatever lol) and the rabbits make perfect pruning cuts (the rabbit cuts were so sophisticated that it took me a while before I noticed my roses were slowly getting smaller), the squirrels (or birds) just break/ rip off stems and leave it laying. I suspect that chipmunks are taking my buds. I use liquid fence which protects from the deer, and have my smaller roses in chickenwire (learned my lesson yesterday and had to make them little chickenwire roofs too ughhh) My yard rabbit is now making a nest between 2 blackspot magnet sexy rexy roses and she totally ignores the new growth.

It also could be a woodchuck. Plantskydd is more waterproof think and s may not need reapplication after each rain.

Thank you all. Still investigating the culprit(s). I also now, since this posting, have had several HUGE hostas eaten literally overnight. They were definitely outside our fenced backyard. I suspect deer, because I could see some major foot/paw/hoof prints in the mulch. We also have a groundhog living under our shed although I haven't seen him/her of late (also saw a baby). So everything is on the table. The hostas were surprising to me as we've lived here for 6 years and nothing has ever eaten them. Whatever it was, they were hungry as they decimated 3 HUGE hostas in a single night. Thanks for all the input!

A "trail camera" could answer the question of who is responsible. They are widely available online, incjuding Amazon. I almost bought one, before just deciding to treat for deer. As I knew they were regular visitors.

@grasswhisperer I saw your pictures and it reminded me of my new roses getting eaten to the ground exactly like that earlier this spring. I've been using a small sprinkle of Milorganite around them all since then, and they've been left alone and grown nicely.

I have tons of deer here in upstate NY, and they haven't touched any of the climbing roses I planted on the front side of my fence (where they could easily grab them without even hopping over).

Research Milorganite a little...might help your new roses and hostas. Some people don't like it's ingredients, and it's also a slow release light fertilizer. But I probably sprinkle less than half a handful around each plant, not near the base just around the area of each plant, probably a foot or two outside of the plants themselves.

I don't bother much with my hostas in the front of the house, just haven't gotten bitten by the hosta bug yet ;) Plus they're eaten to the ground no matter what every Spring/Summer by deer/rabbits, so I just never bothered. But I sprinkled the Milorganite around them this spring when I got it, more as a test to see if this stuff actually works to repell the animals like I'd read. First year I've seen their leaves get bigger than 5 inches without animal attacks. Seems to work well.