I have a dozen of them, all on their own roots and they do well. Enough blooms are produced that I can give one to each lady who visits my garden. I give away lots of Double Delights. I bought three bare roots from Edmunds this spring. Two did well but the other one had lots of harvest damage which has resulted in few good canes so far. It's planted deep so it may go own root and do good after a while.

I bought it as a J&P box rose 20 years ago and planted it in the Philadelphia area. Despite its RMV infection (which manifested a couple of years later), I had no complaints about this rose at all and would still be growing it up here in the Boston area if I had a spot for it.

I've tried it three times and it's been a bow wow every time.
My grandmother grew it for years and it was always a stunner so I think I've got bad juju with this plant.
After what Karl said I may try it own root.
I love it when I see it, I've just had trouble growing it.
Just keep tempting me.

I have a four year old DD and it is delightful. It did take about two years to really get settled in and flourish, so be patient with it.
The bush is fairly vigorous at a not overly large 4' tall. The many large super fragrant red/white blooms are beautiful and make great cut roses for vases. The perfume of one stem can permeated an entire vase full and really stink up the room nicely.
I would recommend it to anyone.
Maybe you got a dud plant of a good cultivar. That does happen sometimes to anyone. I have had them myself. If after three full years it isn't a good one, it probably is a dud and won't be so get rid of it. But, with this one I would definitely try to get another one.
John

I found one for sale that was grafted on Fortuniana rootstock. Where I live in the South, this makes for much more vigorous plants. Mine has done wonderfully and at just 2 years old is a 3' tall, bushy, florific, super-rose. I've been pleasantly surprised since this is nor purported to be a great rose for my area.

This is a vase full of DD that I recently cut from a two year bush that is on fortuniana. There are 14 blooms in this vase. I believe that you just have a bad plant. Try it on fortuniana. This is a must rose in any cutting garden.

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Does it get blackspot? Before I started a spraying program, my DD and Peace did horribly and never bloomed. First I used Daconil which improved them, but DD doesn't really like Daconil. Now I spray with the Bayer Advanced and both do great. In fact, I had 30 blooms at one time on my Peace rose, the most ever.

I would try spraying it if you aren't. And also use alfalfa fertilizer and water regularly. If it still doesn't do well, then try another plant. This is one of my favorite roses and I bet it would be yours too if you can get it to bloom.

DD takes a while to start growing, and even after it does it is a spreading shrub that does not grow as tall as my other HTs. I say give it time.

Masha

I advise giving it the royal treatment this year and see if it doesn't noticeably improve next year--it third year. Third year (or older) plants often outgrow some of their earlier "problems."

As Buford suggested, give it a good afalfa feed (pellet, meal, or "tea")now and in about another month. I'd add that you should combine that with an organic feed like RoseTone (monthly until mid-August), and water it a lot. After a season of that, it should be a much improved plant by next year.

Oh yes--you do have it in at least 6 hours of sun, don't you? It likes sun. And keep it healthy by spraying Bayer Advanced Garden Disease Control for Roses and Flowers, as suggested above.

Good luck.

Kate

My own root Double Delight was horrible it's first year. It had only one or two blooms that weren't formed well. The second year it was so much better that it became one of the roses I most looked forward to blooming and smelling. I can't wait to see what it does this year (third year). So I'd be patient and see how it does by the end of this year or even wait until next year.

My first double delight was weak and barely bloomed. After a few years, I spotted a potted dd at a local garden center, and bought it. It was like a whole different plant! except the flowers were the same. The second DD grew and bloomed a lot. Much better!Can get 4-5 feet sometimes by the end of the summer. So, I guess you have to get a good one, and give it lots of light, and all the fertilizer and alfalfa that was already mentioned.

I have one in my front yard and one in my back yard. The backyard one is 2 years old and has many blooms. The front yard one is 4 years old is a sparse bloomer. I am giving it one more year and then I'm going to replace it with another of the same kind. I don't know what the difference is.

Hey everyone, thanks for all the great advice. I think I will do as you said and give it some alfalfa tea about once a month til mid August and see what it does. I was thinking that if it doesn't work out, I would replace it with some other variety, but given all of its enthusiastic praise, I think I will try another in its place if this one doesn't rebound.

DublinBay, yes, it is in full-sun. I remember even when I got it as a bareroot, it was very small. I didn't even pay for it; it was an extra plant that was I supposed accidentally slipped into the box of my order of several other bareroots.

Thanks again everyone. :)

With normal HT culture, it was vigorous, reliable, and productive both in my father's garden in Florida and here in Appalachia. I wonder if virus was a factor in some of these failures.

Mine was the last to bloom last season and not up to par with the others. Karl told me to chill on it (as usual
:-) he knows me....Then it put on a lot of horizontal growth, it is not super tall but still wonderful.

It was really worth the wait, this year it is spectacular. Maybe give it more time?

What we need is 'Improved Double Delight'. DD leaves a lot to be desired but a perfect DD bloom has no equal.

Rayrose that's a awesome vase full of D.D.'s there! Nice. I recently ordered a D.D. on fortuniana, just starting to sprout some green leaves. Awesome pic.