Interesting you brought this topic up, I was thinking about it myself. My roses are plagued by jb's, they seem to prefer the lighter pastels but will eventually get to everything. That being said,the one that they really don't touch is Distant Drums which is amazing with it's light colors. I'd be curious if any one else experienced this.

JBs are stongly attracted to rose fragrances (maybe not the strange myrrh fragrance of Distant Drums). Fragrance attracts them to your yard. Red and orange are the last colors to be attacked, but they will be attacked unless beetles are few..

I've noticed that they don't bother the minis for some odd reason. Orange bi-blends such as 'Strike It Rich', are one of their favorites and is a huge target. Oddly enough, only one strong orange, a nameless one that I can't remember, remains untouchable. Even the deep reds are eaten to smithereens. It's a bad, bad year here. I won't have to deadhead the second flush because, well, there isn't any. It's that bad. A friend said yesterday that they're even ravaging her oak tree.

I grow a mix of 300 different roses, and JBs love them all. Rugosas, single-petal, shrubs, OGRs, Bucks, HTs, etc. Doesn't matter what it is...if it blooms, it will get eaten. And they don't stop at roses; they are eating away at coneflowers, trees, clematis, etc. They are like locusts. I dream of a spray that I could use that won't harm bees and beneficials.

Usually taller roses suffer most in my experience. JBs also prefer OGRs to moders, especially OGR leaves are attractive to them. Rugosas are also very attractive. However if infestation is high only plastic roses will not be touched.
Olga

"A very important point, in northern Ohio, is that the Japanese Beetles ignore it!"

A quote from the link below. This is what I found in two different locations in northern Ohio.

Here is a link that might be useful: Illusion

Some very interesting comments all; I grow Illusion, Henry, as a shrub, so I'm encouraged there, but I, a lover of the Buck roses, don't grow Distant Drums because I've never been that crazy about the color.

Olga you've dashed my hopes. Are you referring to all OGR's or just the remonant ones? I had hoped that the once-bloomers, Gallicas, Albas and the like, would be immune because they flower before the beetles emerge. And I had hoped my Rugosa's would be the safest of all.

Sorry, I meant once bloomers JBs absoluteley love foliage of gallicas, damasks, etc.
Illusion is not resistant to BS here.
Olga

Here is a link that might be useful: Leaves on gallica Duc de Guiche

Prof, Olga said that one reason to grow once-bloomers is that they bloom before the JBs arrive (in most places). Then the beetles arrive and eat their foliage, which is not a big deal for established plants. But one could protect the foliage with Merit or the mud spray, Surround, without endangering pollinators.

I only have a few asiatic beetles in the garden so far, and they have only damaged foliage of Charles de Mills along with a few flowers, mainly yellow ones.

In my garden, I've noticed that JBs absolutely love the Canadian Explorer roses including William Baffin and John Davis. They rarely, if ever touch my Rosarium Uetersen, Laguna, Rambling Red and a red Medilland shrub rose, whose name escapes me. They are definitely attracted to light colored roses including my Darlows Enigma, which is both fragrant and white. They also like the minis, but not all of them - I have a peach one they eat to shreds. Oh, and they are attracted to fragrant roses - I had one hybrid musk rose that they devoured all parts of. Wish there was a safe and non-toxic way to get rid of these scavengers. Lol

JB's attack every kind of rose in my garden---minis, HT's, OGR's, hardy shrubs, etc. with 2 exceptions, a red Fl. 'Lavaglut' & only very slightly on my climber 'Ramblin' Red'. I suppose now that I've said that, they'll decide to go after them too, SIGH........