"should I just consign my struggling ones to history, accepting the "fact" that many roses have only a 5 or 6 year productive life span and can only survive severe winter damage as one-cane wonders thereafter?"

Yes. If you are consistently planting Hybrid Teas, Floribundas and the like, in your climate you can assume that any that do not return year after year with excellent vigor and steadily improving performance are unlikely to ever be good roses in your garden/climate: remove, replace, rejoice.

I try to regard a failed rose plant as an opportunity to try a different rose.
In your climate, I'd look for cultivars that are more cold-hardy, which might reduce the number of such opportunities. :-)

Jeri

We have many hardy roses that grow well in our area and with little or no winter protection. I'm in NW Indiana just south of Valparaiso. I grow 400 roses including a few hardy hybrid teas, etc.
As stated by those knowledgable rosarians above, you should plant roses suited for your area and most roses sold at local nurseries are not suited for our area. Mine were obtained from growers who specialize in coldhardy roses. I did not have to give up repeat blooming or hybrid tea like roses either. Mine come back bigger and better each year.
and yes, you can revive one cane wonders but you should learn on hardy varieties before you attempt the tender ones that often become one cane wonders, or be prepared to do extensive winter protection to avoid winter damages that causes them.
Visit a local successful rose grower and learn his/her secrets. You are welcome to visit my garden next spring. I'll giove you hands on instruction on how to best grow the tender varieties and show you the many hardy varieties I grow. End of May/first of June is the best time as they'll all be in bloom. You can then see the many beautiful varieties you can grow here.
E-mail me for more information.

Here is a link that might be useful: rosenut's webpage

Instead of reviving them, it is best to prevent them in the first place. In our climate, burying the bud unions deep and covering the canes with burlap in late December is adequate winter protection. But, perhaps more importantly, I spray fungicide throughout the season to keep the plants healthy until the hard frosts arrive. We have also had issues with poor drainage in the winter, but most folks don't have that problem. We are fixing that by raising the beds with compost.

I find that with good growing practices, I've had nearly all of my one can wonders put out basal breaks. A notable exception is PJPII--I have a plant that stubbornly refuses to put out a basal break, even though its one 1/2" thick cane supports around a dozen blooms--a few of which have stems long enough for exhibition.

I have about 5 ht's that I've had for 20 years, and they are still doing great!

Typically, you want to maximize leaf growth--avoid hard pruning as much as possible. You might even keep questionable wood after winter and watch it daily--and then prune away the bad wood from the cane that is still growing vigorously. Similarly, you want to minimize blooms by disbudding. I'd avoid pegging to force growth--it doesn't seem to work with the few HTs I've tried.

I have a one-cane wonder I've decided to give up on (finally) after about 6 or 7 years...winter wasn't her problem: she just never wanted to grow a new cane.

Shopping opportunity!

Next spring, give your one-cane wonder a good feeding of alfalfa (tea, meal, or pellets) and water in well around the rose. Alfalfa often does wonders in producing new healthy canes. Roses love it.

Kate