Do Rabbits Eat Rose Bushes? Protecting Your Roses from Rabbits

With their beautiful blooms and fragrant scent, rose bushes are a favorite plant for many gardeners. But these prized shrubs often end up on the menu for rabbits too. So do rabbits eat rose bushes?

Unfortunately, the answer is yes Rabbits can and will munch on all parts of rose bushes, especially in winter and early spring when food is scarce. Read on to learn how to identify rabbit damage and tips to protect your roses

Why Rabbits Eat Roses

During warmer months, rabbits enjoy a diverse diet of greens, fruits, vegetables, clovers, and herbaceous plants. But when the garden goes dormant in winter, rose bushes become a tasty target. Here’s why rabbits go for roses:

• Hunger – Rabbits need to eat daily and rose branches and bark provide nutrition when other food is limited.

• Location – Rose bushes are often planted along foundations and fences – prime areas rabbits frequent.

• Accessibility – With few barriers around mature rose shrubs, rabbits can easily access the plants.

• Taste – Rabbits seem to find all parts of the rose plant, including the leaves flowers canes, and bark, palatable.

• Nutrition – Rose branches and bark provide protein, nutrients, and fiber that rabbits desperately need in winter.

Identifying Rabbit Damage on Roses

To know if rabbits are feasting on your roses, look for these signs:

• Neat, angled cuts through stems and branches

• Stripped outer bark on canes

• Chewed or missing buds and flowers

• Pruned leaves without jagged edges

• Clean cut branches left on ground

• Rabbit pellets around bushes

Rabbit damage differs from other rose pests like deer, voles, and insects that tend to rip or shred plant parts rather than making smooth cuts.

![Rabbit damage on rose bush][]

Notice the angled snip marks from rabbits. Credit: sandsun / Shutterstock

Protecting Roses from Rabbits

Discouraging rabbits from nibbling your roses takes persistence, but these tactics can help:

• Remove hiding spots like tall grasses and weeds near roses.

• Apply natural repellents like hot pepper wax or garlic spray. Reapply after rain.

• Protect with fencing or wire cages around plants. Use small mesh to keep out young bunnies.

• Add wind chimes, aluminum pans, or mylar tape to startle rabbits away.

• Use deterrents like pet hair, human hair, dog waste, or predator urine near plants.

• Switch out repellents frequently as rabbits become desensitized.

• Adopt dogs or cats – their presence naturally scares away rabbits.

• Grow rabbiteye blueberries or other preferred plants to distract them from roses.

• Hand pick or trap and relocate rabbits after confirming it’s legal locally.

• Apply organic fertilizer to help roses recover quickly from damage.

Cultivating Rabbit Resistant Roses

When shopping for new rose bushes, seek out resistant varieties that rabbits tend to avoid:

• Rugosa – Thorny shrub rose with wrinkled leaves. Great scent.

• Lilac – Light purple, heavily scented double blooms.

• Knockout – Low maintenance with continuous red, pink or yellow flowers.

• Austrian Copper – Gorgeous yellow blooms on a tough bush.

• Drift Roses – Low growing groundcover rose.

Planting a mix of rabbit-resistant roses combined with protection methods can help safeguard your investment and allow you to enjoy rose gardening. With persistence, you can have both thriving roses and rabbits!