Double Delight is a large bi-coloured rose in cream and scarlet. It starts off mostly cream but as it gets older in the sun the outer petals change from cream to red.

The most Fragrant Rose
Double Delight is without doubt one of the most fragrant roses in my garden.  The scent is outstanding.  Just a few of these roses can fill any room with their wonderful perfume. As an added bonus, they last very well as cut flowers.

My Double Delight rose bush is completely covered with huge flowers throughout most of the season. The bush is sturdy and compact, disease free and keeps repeating its blooms over and over.  There is also a climbing Double Delight that I want to try soon.

A bi-colour Rose
If this rose is planted in strong sunlight the colour ranges from cream to deep scarlet.  Otherwise the red remains somewhat subdued. But mainly, the rose is a combination of cream suffused with carmine or deep red.

Some people have commented that their Double Delight roses are mostly cream with only a bit of carmine along the edges. The reason for this is that the rose bush probably gets too little sunlight.  The most striking colour combinations can only be achieved if the rose is planted in direct sunlight.

The Double Delight in my garden is a combination of cream and rich red. You can see an actual photo of one of these Double Delight roses in my garden

In all my experience, I have never found two of these roses that are identical. There are so many factors that can influence the quality and colour of the blooms.

The position of your rose garden, the weather, the feeding and the soil conditions will all combine to make Double Delight a unique specimen in your rose garden.

This enormous rose has a wonderful fragrance, and is very eye-catching, not only because of its huge size and perfection of form but also because of its wonderful combination of colours that range from a deep pink to a rich deep violet.

Not only is this one of the biggest roses that I have ever seen – it also lasts a long time in the vase.  An added plus about Garden Queen is that the bush is sturdy, strong and vigorous and that it seems to be virtually disease free.

I only have to pick three of these huge blooms to fill a vase and they always make quite a talking point.

Another magnificent pink rose that I love is Flamingo. It’s a much lighter pink rose with its peachy centre and flamingo shade of pink on the open petals. But despite its very large size, this is a graceful rose. It’s a strong grower and the flowers last an incredibly long time in the vase.

Ok so you think I’m nuts!  It doesn’t really matter as long as we all remember that roses are living things.  They may not have blood running through their veins but they do have veins and they do have green sap running through them.

Roses like to be admired.  They like to be touched and smelled and appreciated.  This type of communication is important.  My roses respond hugely to a kind word or two by putting out excellent growth and a profusion of blooms.

At any rate, communicating in this way isn’t totally off the wall because I can tell as soon as they need water, or mulching or a good dose of rich compost.

All this keeps my rose bushes healthy. Then, as soon as the first flush of roses has passed, long red shoots begin to emerge from the base of each bush. These shoots are proof of the vigour of the rose bush. They hold within them the promise of the future.  Because when they mature they will be topped with sprays of fresh roses.

Healthy, happy roses respond in the only way they can – with generosity and an abundance of healthy blooms.  So yes, I talk to my roses and it works!

More about my crazy methods with roses at my website,  Roses and gardens .  You can find tips for growing roses at  rose care