I am not sure of having only one stem and one flower on top. To me, it would look real lonely and not a great rose bush. Nothing is more fun to watch than a healthy rose bush with a lot of basal growth, dark foliage and covered with flowers. Sorry, that is the way I like it. Typically, the Grade 1 or the top grade of bare roots are the plants which have three or more stems above the bud union. A Grade 2 is one with just one stem.

My suggestion will be to pinch some buds near the top to accentuate the one on the top and let the others on the side grow. If you have a healthy plant, it should be able to amply support more than one flower.

Good luck.

u have a point. i have 4 more bushes that accompany it one to it right is a Souvenir de la Malmaison, very pretty. that one has a few coming. i think i might turn that one unusual one into a standard. i dont know.

You can cut them all off if you wish. I'm not sure it will increase the size of the top rose, but you might as well try. I believe you pinch them off right at the main stem, but you may want to post over in the Exhibition forum to get more advice on that.

If the center bud is already open taking off the side buds (called disbudding) won't make that bloom larger. In order for that to happen you would have had to take those side buds off as soon as they began to emerge and while the center bud was still growing and not open.

I have to agree with AM, a single cane rose is not a good healthy plant. We call them "one cane wonders" because you wonder how long it will live.

I would like to see a photo of the bloom because I've had two Double Delights for years and don't think I've ever seen a cluster of blooms (called a spray) on either one. They are always a single bloom per stem. Is it possible that you have Cherry Parfait which can look very similar to DD but does give beautiful sprays?

What you need are more main canes.

You can try to stimulate more main canes with heavy fertilizing and watering. A dose of Epsom salts may help.
Keep in mind that the new growth may be very soft due to all the fertilizer, and may need to be staked. A plant with a lot of soft new growth is also an aphid magnet, so keep an eye out for that as well. In this garden, 'Double Delight' has been a somewhat reluctant producer of new canes without extra attention.

Another option would be to propagate some new plants from cuttings, if the variety is out-of-patent. A new plant may more readily produce new main canes than an old worn-out "one-cane-wonder".

Keep trying and good luck! The journey will bring you knowledge.

What seil said. If you wanted a larger single bloom, you would have pinched off the side buds just as they were forming. Taking them off now won't help, the center bud is now as large as it will get.

For exhibitors, we often run into cases where we have to make the decision to keep the center bud for a single bloom, or to remove the center bud leaving a nice spray.

thanks guys. i think i will try encourage new growth and prune back like a normal plant. and i will post a picture when its open. i do have one picture of the top one just opening for now.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:282040}}