I grow 50 Rugosas(25 different) in my garden and I find the beauty of them is that I don't have to worry about disease or poor growth. I am not organic but I don't spray and I only use compost around the base of the Rugosas. I would try not to view them as modern ( even if some have just been introduced) as this will destroy the beauty of trouble free plants. To me the only thing I have to worry about is their suckering and some do it very well. Here is my list of Rugosas which do okay in the PNW on sandy soil and gale force winds off the sea. Belle PointevineÂsemi double mauve pink Darts Dash...semi double carmine Dr. Eckener...semi double yellow and pink FlamingoÂsingle rose pink Foxi PavementÂsemi double purple pink Hansa...double carmine HansalandÂsemi double deep red Henry HudsonÂsingle white HunterÂdouble rich red Jens Munk...double pure pink Kordes Robusta...single rich red Morden Sunrise...single amber edged pale red Pink Grootendorst...double carnation type pure pink PolareisÂdouble white shaded pink, pink buds Pristine PavementÂsemi double pure white RokokoÂsemi double soft peach Roseraie de l HayÂdouble carmine RugeldaÂdouble yellow flushed red Rugspin...single carmine red RuskinÂdouble rich red Sarah van Fleet...semi double pure pink ScabrosaÂsingle carmine pink Scarlet PavementÂsemi double fuchsia red Showy PavementÂsemi double pale carmine pink Souvenir de Philemon CochetÂdouble white flushed pink Topaz JewelÂdouble soft yellow White Grootendorst...double white White Max GrafÂsingle white

Try a scratch test - gently scratch with a fingernail on the bark of a stem. If there is a green layer - the cambium layer - between the bark and the wood, then the branch is alive to that point. If there is only brown or grey to the wood, try further down the branch. If there is NO green all the way to the ground, if you check in scattered spots along the stems, then it is possible that the shrubs are dead. I wouldn't give up until next spring, though, as the roots may be alive, and the shrubs MAY sprout out from the roots, once it warms up. They might not, also. Sorry not to be more hopeful. Just out of curiosity, where did you buy the shrubs from? And did they offer a guarantee? You might want to give them a heads-up that there seems to be a problem, and see what sort of response you get.....

I have these established rugosas listed by my most favorite for hips, rebloom and hardiness at the top and on down: Magnifica (my best rugosa for rebloom and hips) Fru Dagmar Hastrup (second best, but a close second!) Belle Poitevine (right in there with the top two) Marie Bugnet (love this little rose - unfortunately the stem girdlers do too and rarely leave poor Marie with more than one or two canes.) Martin Frobisher (gotta love a rose that sets such pretty blooms over the whole season yet asks for nothing at all) Mrs. Doreen Pike (if only she'd let go of her spent petals, she'd be a perfect little rose. Love the pink blooms against the apple green foliage.) Carmen (when she's in her spring flush she is awesome! Very little re-bloom the rest of the year.) R.rugosa rubra (I like this rose, but it won't stay home. Suckers badly in every direction!) Therese Bugnet (Not much rebloom from Therese and just like her sister, a regular victim of stem girdlers.) Sweet Cecilia (a bit too tender for my zone; it's hanging on but just barely. Pretty white blooms.) Fimbriata (not too impressive in bloom, ho-hum out of bloom which is usually. Canes only half hardy up here.) Dr. Eckner (definitely longs for a warmer zone, has severe die back and awkward growth thereafter with few blooms that blow in a heartbeat. Needs to be shovel pruned except that it takes up so little space it's easy to ignore!) ** Agnes (I just bought her this year so I haven't ranked her yet - but being a once bloomer doesn't bother me as long as I get *lots* of yellow blooms when she *does* bloom!) The less "rugose" they are by hybridization, the less hardy they are for me plus all of my rugosas are prone to stem girdler which can be most frustrating. As far as blackspot or powdery mildew, I don't think any of them with the exception of Dr. Eckner (which hardly even looks related to rugosas at all) are affected. If it weren't for the stem girdler problem, they'd be pretty care free. They rarely even get fertilized or watered or deadheaded.

I love this rose. It's been planted in every house I've been in. The early summer blooms literally stop people in their tracks and the fragrance perfumes the air. Re blooms sporadically for me through autumn. Beautiful red canes in winter. Nothing not to love about this rose. I only recall one episode of mildew on one ugly humid August many years ago.