Sounds like stem borers or mossy rose gall. Remove canes in the fall. http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/components/6594-07.html Rose Stem Borer The rose stem borer, Agrilus aurichalceus, damages rose canes when larvae tunnel in a spiral fashion beneath the bark, girdling and killing the canes (figures below). Their presence is indicated when a cane dies above the point of borer tunneling. Leaves on the infected cane turn brown as they die, creating a "flag" among healthy, green-leaved canes. On close observation, a swelling or gall on the infected cane can be seen below the dead tissue, indicating where the borerÂs tunneling occurred. The gall formation weakens canes and it is common to see infected canes broken off by wind. The quickest and most effective control is removal and disposal of infected canes in fall. From top to bottom: rose stem borer flag, rose stem borer gall, and rose stem borer tunneling. Mossy Rose Gall Mossy rose galls are caused by Diplolepis spinosa, a cynipid gall wasp. These galls are common on wild roses of North America, from Ontario to Alberta in Canada and throughout most of the northern United States. They are becoming common on Rugosa cultivars.17 The presence of these insects is indicated by the formation of spherical, golf ball-size, spiny galls on the canes of host plants. The development of these galls is stimulated in the spring by newly hatched larvae. The galls encase the larvae until adult wasps emerge the following spring. The galls are unsightly and alter the plantÂs shape. They also stress the host plant, behaving like nutrient sinks, drawing nutrients away from the rest of the plant.17, 18 Large numbers of galls on a plant can kill the plant. Insecticides have no effect on the wasp that causes mossy rose gall. The most effective control is physical removal and disposal of galls in autumn after leaves have dropped and galls are visible. It is important to dispose of all galls since even a single missed gall can produce and reintroduce 30 to 40 mature wasps to the garden the following spring.

I've never seen stem girdler damage -- yet. I have a large black raspberry bed next to several of my rugosas. Sooner or later my rugosas will probably get hit too. Your posts have me thinking someday when I find the proper space for it I'll have to get Polareis...

I love my animals, but they're always making more work ... and they never clean up after themselves. :) See now if the horse just did some beneficial pruning or deadheading it would be fine. Or if he snipped them and brought you a bouquet. Or if he smartly fed them his own manure. But no. He has to do it his own way. I'm constantly lecturing my dogs to help out by digging my planting holes for me or at least to clean the dishes. They never listen. Instead they dig around my roses to eat the alfalfa. One of them just ate the last Falstaff bloom the other day too. I don't blame him because they smell so good.... but argh!!!!!

Bart, the dark side of gardening in the country in Italy is the critters that eat plants. Hyacinths are a popular snack, if I remember correctly back in the days when I grew them in an unprotected bed. Also tulips; and iris tubers are much loved by the porcupine. Nothing has bothered my English bluebells, grape hyacinths seem to do fairly well, crocus carry on, and all members of the Amaryllis family, narcissus, snowdrops, and snowflakes, are left in peace. The porcupine also eats with appetite the wild long-stemmed Ornithogalum (star of Bethlehem), making a mess of the area while doing so: it's an even bigger digger than the wild boars. The native wild erythronium (E. dens-canis) is left in peace. The porcupine gobbled up my lone colony of highly poisonous autumn colchicum, and lived. I share MetteBee's liking for wild plants and the idea of allowing them to colonize the garden, though there's plenty of room to do more of this in my case. Lately I've been admiring the bugleweed in the woods and damp areas, for example. We have several kinds of attractive bedstraws, field sage coming on to bloom, and too many others to name. The sunny big garden is harder to do this kind of planting, and like bart, I have too much other work to have much time for herbaceous plants. It's best when they creep in on their own. Beautiful, Sheila!