Maybe it’s just me, but the most difficult rose I’ve ever dealt with is the Double Delight.

It’s a very popular rose. The bloom is a beautifully white and pink and the perfume is strong and sweet, hence the name (rose pictured is not from my garden).

In Bakersfield, I found the plant was a little susceptible to powdery mildew — not much, but some, so I sprayed it. Every part of the plant hit by the spray became burned. I had leaves and canes dabbled with black. It survived, but it was ugly for half a season.

One of the first plants I bought last year, however, was a Double Delight.

Because Western New York is a more humid climate than Bakersfield, the powdery mildew problem last year was particularly difficult.

Three weeks ago, I started on a weekly spraying regime — insecticide, herbicide and liquid fertilizer — as recommended by the owner of Carey Lake.

I’ve had some leaves on the DD completely burn off.

I’ve also found that this plant, like the one in Bakersfield, really only produces useful cuttings — strong, leafy stems — early in its growing cycle. The next flush of flowers are on weaker stems with fewer leaves near the flower (which makes for a less attractive display).

But like I said, maybe it’s just me.

My search for what other rose growers were saying about Double Delight, turned up this forum, where most users rated the rose high and said it’s very easy to grow.

This comment, for example, contradicts everything I just said:

If you want a hybrid tea that doesn’t ever need spraying, even in my hot, humid, steamy climate I never spray, try Double Delight. Even when I had to in WAY too much shade it never got icky looking. It didn’t grow and it didn’t bloom much but it never got bad looking. Wonderful rose to look at, has an out of this world true “tea rose” scent and is easy on top of every…

But neither am I alone in my experience:

This is a cut Double Delight. It seems to be a bit tender. All three bushes got burned a little when i sprayed them with a light spray of Ultra-fine when nothing else got hurt. They did fine with Immunox though… and they did clean up well. The repeat, like most of my HT’s isnt as fast as i would like, but the first flush was great.

So I guess I need to find some Immunox.

This DVD looks interesting: Growing Good Roses