Adrienne, yes, I always deadhead my rugosas. If I don't have a scissors in my hand, I just snip with my fingernails. If you don't deadhead, hips will form, and I don't think you will get many more roses because the bush will put too much energy into producing the hips. My rugosa blooms all summer right into fall. Wonderful rose!

I don't know about Rugosas, but I grew "The Fairy" and it was very leggy and rerooted itself everywhere. I went from 1 plant to 6 in two years.

Whether they prefer acid soil or not, I can tell you, here in the arid, desert south west with highly alkaline soil, highly alkaline water, not much winter to speak of, extreme heat and blazing, laser beam sun, rugosas of many types are chronically chlorotic. Most grow backwards, languishing until they finally just melt. Budded specimen seem to last longer and don't experience the chlorosis issues as terribly. If yours aren't showing chlorosis, I wouldn't worry about whether the soil is right or not. The way rugosa's flowering has been explained to me is that it is not really "repeat flowering." It has one, very long seasonal bloom which is why so many rugosa hybrids are once flowering. If the flowering doesn't extend far enough into the latter end of your season, I would more look to perhaps the feeding, what you're feeding, and climate differences. Milorganite is rated as 5-2-0. Fish emulsion is 5-2-2. Perhaps you're providing them with more nitrogen than they require? Where they are native, they flower their season with nothing other than what Nature provides. If your soil is fairly fertile, they may not require anything else. Just a thought. Kim

Yes, I grow Polareis in my garden as well. It is lovely. Yours looks much bushier than mine. That's what happens when it's grown between a fence and a tree lol. The "tree" was supposed to be a short mannerly bush. Guess someone got that wrong. It's now 12' tall and 6' wide with a 2' diameter trunk. That makes it a tree in my book. All this to say that the rose is completely shaded, never gets direct sun, and still is healthy as a horse and blooms a lot.