Thank you so much Kate. It's been suggested that the tree be removed. It's a healthy beautiful tree. The roses all receive full sun part of the day despite the tree. It's a mystery why the closest plants die and the farthest thrive.

I made an error in my original message. My apologies. Someone else in my household is in charge of the watering, hence my error. The roses are on their own irrigation system and are only watered once a week unless you count the unintentional watering that the neighbor gives them. Thank you JAYK for your advice. You said just what I was afraid of--that it wasn't necessary for me to pull the leaves off the plant. I just spent over an hour reading some of the rose forum thread on chemicals to use on black spot and am still (more?) confused. Do you or anyone else have any advice for the rose bush that I pruned almost all the leaves off of (only about 6 leaves left on it now)? Do I use the neem oil my local nursery suggested (and have already purchased)or do I heed some research I did that shows neem oil can interfere with photosynthesis and wait for more leaves to grow before using neem? Or use something else entirely? A relative says he remembers using something many years ago that went in with the fertilizer in granular form and so didn't need to be sprayed and thus limited the safety precautions which I would certainly appreciate if it works. I didn't see anything about this product in the thread on black spot that I read; maybe it was there and I missed it but most of the discussion seemed to focus on commercial sprays. I'll do so more reading tomorrow and see if I can find a reference to it. I'd very much like to save the bush; it was well-established, planted about 15 years ago. I'd rather not be the one to kill it. Thanks.

Looks live to me. My best guess for its loosing its leaves & not yet growing new ones is transplant shock. I'd be watering it more than twice a week unless rainfall was doing the job for me, watering every other day, giving the equivalent of a large watering can each time. The grass closely surrounding it may be drinking up the water, especially if the ground is not level where it's planted. Would give temporary shade from the heat of the sun in the meantime, good for any transplant in Summer. Other remedies to try after adequate water for a week. like spraying the bare canes with Neptune's Harvest early in the evening when they're most likely to absorb it. Ben's right - easier to start fresh than take the time to help a distressed rose recuperate. I'm a softhearted gardener, so give plants "nursing" care when needed. Very satisfying to see them rebound... Welcome to the forum & the ongoing adventure of gardening! Sue

I've always just cut below borer activity on the cane (sometimes i cut through the little devil himself), and never lost a rose to this pest. I cut any infested canes early in spring when doing general pruning, and I can't tell which roses hosted the borers a month later or so. The roses are in such a hurry to regrow after a good prune--no evidence is left of the borers. Diane