What it sounds like to me is old canes.

If it is old canes, you could try cutting out a couple of the oldest ones to the ground and see if you get new growth. I unintentionally rejuvenated an old Buff Beauty that way. A very large branch on my neighbor's oak tree crashed down on my BB, causing considerable damage last year. After pruning back anything broken, I found I had to take a couple canes out at ground level. The new growth that subsequently appeared was so healthy and floriferous that this year I deliberately cut out several more old canes all the way to the ground. Right now my rejuvenated BB is going crazy with new, healthy growth and a ton of buds. Can't wait to see it bloom this year!

Kate

Are you close enough to Gage Park or to the RBG in Burlington to compare your roses' progress to theirs.
That's step 1.

If nearby roses are on the same schedule as yours, relax.
If yours aren't up to snuff, can you post a picture? Or several pictures?

Is it all the roses - or just Koenigin von Danemark? KVD is one of the latest to leaf out here? we need lotsa pictures!

Thanks everyone for responding I've been working the late shift all weekend, this is the 1st time i've had a chance to respond. I can't post any pictures I need a new camera. I think most of the problem is an unusally cold winter and too many older canes. The damage seems to be mostly on the older shrubs. Although I'm trying Illusion and it turns out NOT to be hardy in my Z5 garden. MY damasks as well look bad they are not very hardy here and are growing poorly. The explorer roses, albs's and gallica's I grow seem fine with the exception of jens munk(explorer) but I think thats old canes as well. I'm really discouraged and feel my efforts have not paid off. Perhaps I might just remove some of the problem shrubs and plant something else. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Extremly Discouraged
Mark

Mark, we had an very unusual amount of winter kill here in the PNW as well. I've waited to see if leaves will come late and where that's not happening (tips and older canes, just as Kate mentioned), we've pruned away the entire cane. Our only exception would be the more fragile, zone-pushing roses (Chinas and Teas, Tea Noisettes), which really have no relevance to you. I've fed more heavily this year, with aged manure as well as Alaska's MorBloom, and that may be encouraging the new growth we're seeing. Purely anecdotal, can't really know whether it's the normal course of plant life or the ferts, but the latter makes me feel as though I'm doing something. You have my sympathy.

Sue

Mark, I also find my roses are very slow to leaf out after winter. The new bareroots planted this April seem to be way ahead of the 'established' roses. My Dr Van Fleet and Royal William appear to have passed on to rose heaven. Even some other plants in my garden are a little behind. I've done what Sue has done - fed more heavily with organics (alfalfa, manure, and fish/kelp) and I am getting, finally, some sprouting and basal breaks. At this rate, though, I may not have blooms until mid-July!

Judith

Well things look a lot more hopeful this morning. When I 1st noticed this problem 3 weeks ago I posted here and some kind member sent me a link for pruning which I watched and went out and repruned some of the bush's, fed them all the begining of last week. I just that short amount of time I've noticed this a.m. I have all kinds of new shoots coming from most of the troubled bush's. This is great news for me. I'm going to really have to stay on top of the pruning. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and kind words.

Mark

Mark,
One other thing to watch for would be a multiflora rootstock-related problem. I've seen it on some, but not all, ten year old grafted on multiflora where the roses chose not to go own root, but the graft area ends up overgrown by the rootstock, yielding a woody knob that looks like a cypress knob (smooth rather than knarly like a rose with crown gall) and that knob is so overgrown with rootstock cells that the scion gets reduced to a single cane or so.
Just something to watch for.

Thanks Ann, I'll watch for that... I'm having suckering problems on Alba Maxima which I just planted bareroot a month ago.I had a similiar problem when I planted Mme. Legras de St. Germaine. 8 yrs ago...