Oh my, sorry to hear about the ankle. Ouch! I live in zone 5 in Omaha, NE, but I grew up in NW Iowa. I am guessing you have rich black dirt. I was so surprised moving to NE to learn that not everyone has that pretty dirt...lots of clay in the soil here & it is orange/brown. What part of NW IA are you in? I grow Distant Drums, had 2 but lost one over the winter a few years back. I think it may be one that isn't as hardy. I also have Country Dancer. It has thrived and is about 4 foot wide and 3 foot tall right now...It is about 8-9 years old. Most of my roses are grafted and I plant the graft deeply (got that great advice here). I have around 75-80 roses. I usually lose about one a year, though this year we had such a mild winter, they all did very well. I don't do a lot to winter protect with so many roses. I generally let the oak leaves blow around them & call it good. Of course I will baby a few of my absolute favorites! But if you only have a few, I would mound up dirt around the base in the fall.

I live in Zone 10 southern California, but within the coastal zone which has misty conditions spring-earkt summer, then settles into a true Mediterranean climate by August which continues till December when the rains start. Many roses will mildew, ball and sulk here during spring - early summer, and then after the dry weather takes over in August, the same sulky roses will bloom beautifully and have clean foliage till December. I tried growing Carefree Beauty last year - probably planted it in June - a nice healthy ownroot rose from ARE with really strong roots. After the first few weeks in the ground and a promising initial burst of growth, CB just sulked and mildewed. It did not improve after the dry sunny late summer settled in, so I shovelpruned it in December. I sometimes gift unhappy roses to a friend's garden in Topanga Canyon which tho inland from Malibu has 100+ temps in the summer, and these roses are often very happy there as long as they get enough water. So maybe CB would do better in a more classic southern California climate than my microclimate provides.

My Earthsong (purchased from Sam Kedem) has survived for several years although a few years ago it didn't come back until almost July. I thought it had died. No fragrance that I can detect. I also have Prairie Breeze. Again no fragrance but huge blooms and very hardy. Quietness has nice bloom form and occasionally I can detect a little fragrance. I also have Griff's Red which is very hardy and has a little fragrance. Repeat not as good as the others. Honeysweet is my favorite with lots of blooms but still not much fragrance. September Song is not very impressive so far and Enchanted Autumn will probably not make it through another winter. Silver Shadows has been barely hanging on for several years (another Same Kedem along with Honeysweet) but it is very fragrant. Queen Bee and Distant Drums were not hardy here. For some reason blackspot is not too bad here and I don't spray so I can't comment on disease resistance. Many of my Austins do not get much blackspot either.

Valrose FL Zone 8b your American Legacy is stunning !! Agree with Val about Buck roses. I'll wait until Roses Unlimited summer sale mid-June, then order a few on sale (for $14) plus a bunch of Buck roses full-price at $19 each. I can see why Rose Unlimited STOP SELLING water-hogs zillion-petals with great perfume like Grand Dame and Betty White. Betty White survive 4 winters until we had a a dry winter/spring then it died (planted up in a hill). In my zone 5, we have 2 rose parks nearby: Chicago Botanical Garden with over 5,000 roses, and Cantigny rose park with over 1,200 roses. Buck roses ARE THE BEST LOOKING BUSHES at Chicago Botanical Garden, beating French and Austin roses. The prettiest roses that I had seen in my life (after visit to Elizabeth Rose garden in CT with 15,000 roses) ARE STILL BUCK roses, perfect in shape since they survive winter and drought well plus disease-resistant. I was into zillion petals roses and didn't care for Buck rose, until a friend in Texas sent me Prairie Harvest, it survives 9 winters and looks better each year !! It's my prettiest and most neglected bush (planted up hill), while hybrid teas are down to my ankle, and Austin roses get crazy with octopus canes after my zone 5a winter. Folks from zone 10/11 hot Hawaii, to my friend in Texas (100 F in summer), to DRY & HOT New Mexico rave about Buck roses in HMF. So I spent 2 days researching on Buck roses, plus consulting with Paul Redfern in my Chicago area who grows several of them. These are the best Buck which are very winter-hardy & drought-tolerant plus bush-beauty: Deep orange Honeysweet and pink Hawkeye Belle plus Quietness plus light orange Prairie Sunrise (folks rave about its scent). Possibly Joseph F. Lamb (dark red with 6 days vase-lie) or Iowa Belle (bi-color) or Enchanted Autumn (orange). All have great scent. Here's link of Buck Roses: https://www.extension.uidaho.edu/publishing/pdf/bul/bul0874.pdf Hi Neighbor (seen at Chicago Botanical garden) plus Simon Estes plus Polonaise (blooms last 2 weeks in the vase) are the BEST-LOOKING BUCK BUSHES but no scent. Last night I did a search on "favorite buck rose" in HMF' Q & A tab (on the left side), and someone who grew 20 varieties of buck in hot & dry New Mexico stated that April Moon is her favorite. April Moon gets wide 3' x 4', but it has the best-looking foliage & fragrant. Buck rose Iowa Bell is absolutely beautiful plus almost thornless (need more water). It's mentioned by one who grows lots of Buck roses. here's a comment in HMF "Iobelle made it through our extremely harsh winter with about 50 percent dieback, while Mystic Beauty and Cymbeline died. I would say that this rose is probably hardy to Zone 5? It performed about as well as Sugar Moon but is growing back much faster. I garden in Zone 6b CT but we had a Zone 4 winter!" https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.3402.1&tab=32 "That's my Buck story-Favorites are Apple Jack (with scented leaves),Polonaise(non stop red shrub) Earth Song(my wife's favorite) Honey Sweet(there was bed of these outside Kildee Hall in the mid 70's striking and fragrant), Summer Wind, Prairie Harvest,(tall yellow shrub) and ElCatala. just planted April Moon. Have grown Amiga Mia in Iowa in the 90's unprotected every winter. It reached 36" and preformed well in landscape. Moved to New Mexico in '97 planted 2 own root Amiga Mia's in 2000. We experience hardly any die back here in the Rio Grande valley. This rose is a 5 - 6 feet and have to heavily prune back each year-it is a show stopper. Would recommend anywhere." Initial post 9 JUN 06 by NMrose High Country roses in zone 6, Colorado (dry climate) carry a good selection of Buck roses: https://www.highcountryroses.com/category/special-collections/dr-griffith-buck-roses/