Updated on September 7, 2026. Ratings below are university lists, not a guarantee for your street. Confirm current lists on the linked extension pages before you replant a whole hedge.
Yes. Deer eat Knock Out roses — buds, blooms, new red shoots, and leaves, thorns and all. “Knock Out” is a disease-resistance brand, not a deer-resistance rating. William Radler bred the original cherry-red shrub rose in the Milwaukee area; Star Roses and Plants introduced it in 2000 as Rosa ‘Radrazz’, an All-America Rose Selections winner. It was selected to keep blooming after black spot would have stripped a hybrid tea. That same continuous flush of tender growth is why suburban deer treat a Knock Out hedge like a buffet they can hit every night.
This page is the Knock Out-specific answer. The whole genus lives on do deer eat roses. Shade-bed candy is hostas. Spring bulbs that vanish before they open are tulips. For the rest of the yard, start at the deer-proof garden hub and the wild-diet page what do deer eat.
| Plant | Knock Out rose family (Rosa ‘Radrazz’ and later colors). Typical mature size 3–4 ft by 3–4 ft; USDA zones 5–11 on the breeder’s tag. |
|---|---|
| Verdict | Favorite. Unprotected plants get browsed wherever white-tailed deer use the yard. |
| University rating | Rosa spp. sit in the worst woody tier — frequently severely damaged — on Iowa State’s list compiled from Rutgers, Cornell, and Michigan State. Rutgers rates bristly Rosa rugosa one step better (occasionally severely damaged). Knock Outs are not rugosas. |
| What they eat, when | Flower buds first, then new red-tinged shoots and leaves, from the first spring flush until frost. Dawn and dusk raids match deer feeding times. |
| Where it is worst | Mailbox strips, driveway hedges, and foundation beds in eastern and midwestern suburbs — the exact places landscapers mass-plant Knock Outs because they do not need spraying. |
| Official plant sheet | UF/IFAS ‘Radrazz’ fact sheet · Star Roses Knock Out family · UGA roses in Georgia (C1001) |
What “Knock Out” actually knocked out
The name refers to black spot (Diplocarpon rosae), not deer. UF/IFAS describes ‘Radrazz’ as a compact, self-cleaning landscape shrub with 3 to 3½-inch cherry-red blooms and flowering from late spring to frost. UGA Circular 1001 lists the Knock-Out series among the easy shrub roses for Georgia because they skip the hybrid-tea spray program. None of those sheets claim deer resistance. Double, pink, white, and yellow Knock Outs share the same continuous tender growth. Color does not change palatability.
What they eat, and when
Deer take flower buds first, then the new red shoots a gardener would prune, then leaves. Knock Outs keep offering buds because they were bred to bloom in repeating waves, not one June flush. Woody canes get bitten when winter food is short; Minnesota Extension tells people to cage shrubs before the ground freezes. A 3- to 4-foot Knock Out has no safe top: a standing whitetail browse line is the whole plant. Driveway hedges get sheared into green meatballs because every new shoot is at mouth height. Peak windows are the first spring flush and late September into November. Southern plants that keep flushing in warm spells get hit in winter too.
Deer damage vs rabbits vs Japanese beetles
Deer leave ragged stubs, crushed buds, and a sheared outline on the whole shrub, often with pellets and split-heart prints in the mulch. Rabbits cut clean 45-degree bites on pencil-thick canes, usually within 18 inches of the ground or at snow line. If only the bottom is gone and the top still flowers, start at how to keep rabbits out of the garden. Japanese beetles skeletonize leaves and leave the veins; they do not remove whole shoots overnight.
Where Knock Outs get hit hardest
These roses became the default HOA and commercial shrub after 2000 because they survive neglect, so they sit on the worst real estate: mailbox clusters, driveway strips, and sunny foundation beds deer already use as travel lanes. Iowa State, compiling Rutgers, Cornell, and Michigan State, puts Rosa spp. in the frequently damaged woody column. Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Westchester survey listed roses as often or always eaten. UGA’s deer-tolerant list puts roses with plants that need protection in Georgia. Light-pressure rural yards can look acceptable for a season. Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Piedmont suburbs that already lose hydrangeas and hostas are where Knock Outs disappear fastest.
What works
Physical exclusion is the only near-certain fix. Cage each shrub in welded wire taller than the 3- to 4-foot mature height, or fence the bed at least 8 feet — Minnesota Extension’s deer minimum. How high a deer can jump is why a 4-foot decorative fence is theater. Whole-yard tactics: how to keep deer out of garden beds.
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If a cage is ugly on a front walk, move the roses against the house, into a courtyard, or into pots on a deck. Give the mailbox strip to plants deer skip. Repellents buy time on a new planting if you start before the first browse, rotate egg-based and hot-pepper formulas, and respray after rain. Once the hedge is a known food plot, spray alone rarely holds. Which bottles last: organic deer repellent.
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What does not work
Thorns. Knock Out prickles are modest next to a rugosa, and new growth is still soft. Dryer sheets, soap, hair, and one motion light buy days, not a season. Unfenced “deer-resistant” companions do not hide a rose. Hungry deer walk through herbs to get to buds. No Knock Out color has been shown to be less palatable.
Three substitutes that already earn their keep
If you want months of color without feeding the herd, swap the exposed hedge rather than spraying it forever:
- Lavender — strong scent, long bloom, and it sits on every serious “rarely eaten” list. Full sun, sharp drainage, same curb-strip light a Knock Out gets.
- Peonies — big spring flowers deer usually skip for taste and sap. Not a 12-month bloom machine, but they hold a foundation bed without cages in moderate pressure.
- Geraniums (the scented Pelargonium bedding types) — fuzzy leaf and sharp smell; garden-hub rating is rarely eaten. Use them for summer color where you would have stuffed Knock Outs in a pot.
Shrub stand-ins — butterfly bush, bluebeard (Caryopteris, Rutgers rarely damaged), spirea, potentilla — are on deer-resistant shrubs and deer-resistant perennials. Flower shortlist: what flowers deer do not eat.
FAQ
Will Knock Out roses grow back after deer eat them?
Usually, yes, in the growing season. The plant was bred to push new wood after a hard prune, and browsing is just an ugly prune. You lose that flush of flowers. Repeated spring-to-frost browsing keeps it a green ball and can weaken the roots. Cage it before you count on a comeback.
Do Double Knock Outs or other colors resist deer better?
No. Color and petal count change the look, not palatability. Rutgers rates bristly rugosa roses a step less damaged; even those lose buds in hungry neighborhoods.
Will a 4-foot fence save a Knock Out hedge?
Not if deer can jump it or reach over it. Cage the shrub, build an 8-foot fence, or move the plants. Layout and cost: how to keep deer from eating plants.
Are Knock Outs safe if I only have a few deer?
A few deer is how the habit starts. If you already see pellets in the mulch, treat the hedge as a favorite, not a maybe.
Sources
- Rutgers NJAES deer-resistance ratings (Rosa rugosa: occasionally severely damaged)
- Iowa State Extension plant susceptibility (Rosa spp. frequently damaged; Rutgers / Cornell / MSU; reviewed July 2022)
- Cornell Cooperative Extension Westchester deer list
- UGA Extension Circular 1001 — Knock-Out series
- Minnesota Extension — 8-foot deer fencing
- UF/IFAS ‘Radrazz’ fact sheet
- Star Roses — Knock Out family (size, zones, AARS 2000)
This is a child of the rose page and of the deer-proof garden guide. Wild browse, not landscape roses, is on what deer eat.
