I sometimes don't look at things that bother me such as houses in our town that have a lot of junk in the yard. I just look at the other houses. I have a rose friend that removes the blooms during beetle season. His thinking is that the bloom is going to look ugly anyway ( maybe , maybe not) and it'll just sap energy from the plant.

If you were really looking forward to growing some roses I'd sure give it a try. Michigan might not be as scorching as Colorado. You might have great soil where you are and other things that are plusses that you don't know about yet. If you don't mind roses that are not fragrant, perhaps the beetles would leave them alone more than the fragrant ones . If you do have scorching sun, you might find some spots to grow them that have afternoon shade. Anyway where I live, NC, the best bloom is in spring before the beetles arrive, and then there's fall when the beetles are gone. That's a lot of bloom time without beetles. How nice to be near a lake! That's nice you'll get more rain than CO. Helps a lot.

What about the once bloomers? It seems like some people who have problems with the japanese beetles favor them because the blooms are gone before the bugs arrive.

@oursteelers 8B PNW Yes that's one of the reasons I've gotten so many once bloomers. In mid summer most public garden roses I've seen are decimated. The first two years I only had one rose so the beetles didn't seem to notice me, but this year I found one, and next year I'm going to have so many new roses blooming I know they'll find me again. I don't want to deal with them so I'm just going to try to avoid them. So many other flowers bloom through midsummer through fall, so to me it's nbd.

Thank you all. I may need to rethink my vision of a yard full of roses, with fragrance being the key. I had wanted to walk out there and smell the roses in the air.

Perhaps I will start small, maybe one fragrant container rose, and a non-fragrant one and a one-time bloomer. If there is a good solution for the beetle in my lifetime, I can always replant with more fragrant roses. I could also start a nematode/milky spore regimen right off the bat and see how it works, The yard is well maintained but most grass, not many flowers so it is sort of blank canvas.

Thank you for letting me vent.

There are lots of roses to choose from that have great spring bloom with a fall repeat once the rose is mature. I'd go for that or once bloomers because that's my preference here in CO where the summers are so hot and dry and the beetles are present. Lots of fragrant options too.

They tend to go for certain colors, if you get a lot of their predators around they'll disappear. I put sunflower seeds and cracked corn and have seen far fewer rose slugs and japanese beetles

Everyone is helping me keep things in perspective.

When I bought my house in Denver, there was a once blooming rose bush along the garage in the alley. I never maintained it, fed it, watered it (and in dry Denver that is something) but it kept blooming every spring bringing a smile to my face. Once bloomers can be good things.

Maybe I can remove some floribundas from list and add some tea roses because depending on the variety, they may not be in bloom continuously.

I did love my Gertrude Jeykll. It was a spring and autumn bloomer for me. But the beetles loved the leaves. It did not help that it was near my neighbors fence who had Virginia Creeper growing all over the yard. The beetles loved the creeper. It was a festival for the beetles!

Any one have a name of spring and fall blooming rose?

Oh, please don't give up on roses! I live in Central NJ, and we certainly do get JBs! But what I have noticed is that, while some years are bad, others are perfectly fine! (The last few years I have only seen a few of them. I think a dry fall helps; the females can't dig down to lay their eggs in dry ground). And at least here, the JBs don't appear until after the big spring flush - so I get to enjoy May and June in all their glory. In July, if it's going to be a bad JB year, that's when they show up - but it's also sticky hot and humid, and nothing's looking great anyway. By late August, early Sept., they are gone, and you can enjoy your roses again!

As to your question re: spring and fall blooming, I do find that most everblooming roses have their best blooms in spring and fall anyway, so I'd just pick any ones that you like. It is true that a lot of the Austin roses only bloom spring and fall. It's also true that JBs will eat rose foliage (and lots of other flowers) so if you are in JB country and it's a bad JB year, you are kind of stuck with them. But really, only through the hottest months.

Good luck!