DOUBLE DELIGHT – red-and-white hybrid tea rose
Bring a sense of cottage charm to even the smallest front garden with DOUBLE DELIGHT, a classic hybrid tea rose whose bicoloured blooms and sweet-spicy perfume turn everyday strolls into moments of quiet delight. This reliable, bushy plant offers long-lasting flowers for cutting and garden display, yet asks surprisingly little in return – an easy-care choice for busy households and new gardeners. Its own-root form builds strength steadily, rewarding you as roots, then shoots, then full show develop over the first three years with impressive long-term resilience. Bred to perform reliably in gardens where frequent showers and cool breezes meet brighter spells, it copes gracefully where moisture, wind and heavy soil might challenge fussier roses. The blooms hold their colour beautifully, from ivory buds brushed with rose-pink to fully opened flowers edged in glowing carmine red. A rich, very strong fragrance drifts across the path, making every short walk under soft Irish rain feel like time well spent. Whether you grow it in a sunny border or a generous 40–50 litre patio pot, DOUBLE DELIGHT offers enduring garden romance, practical longevity and season-long impact without complicated care.
Usage options
| Target area | Reasoning |
|---|
| Front garden focal shrub |
Ideal as a stand-out shrub by a gate or path, its XL, high-centred flowers and red-and-white colouring draw the eye from the street and perfume the entrance for months; low day-to-day care suits time-pressed homeowners. |
| Cut-flower and vase garden |
Long-stemmed, solitary blooms with exhibition hybrid tea form and very strong scent are perfect for cutting, giving you armfuls of classic roses for the house while the bush continues to flower for enthusiastic flower-lovers. |
| Small Irish cottage-style bed |
Compact, bushy growth and repeat flowering make it easy to tuck into a mixed cottage border with perennials, creating a romantic, “girly” look without needing specialist skills, ideal for relaxed cottage-gardeners. |
| Dublin terraced-house front strip |
Performs well in narrow, sunny or lightly shaded strips, coping with breezy, showery conditions common near the coast, so even busy city streets can enjoy reliable summer colour and scent for urban front-gardeners. |
| Low-maintenance feature in family garden |
Good resistance to black spot and powdery mildew, plus modest feeding and pruning needs, mean fewer sprays and jobs at weekends, while own-root vigour supports a longer life for practical families. |
| Part-shade corner planting |
Tolerates partial shade, so it can brighten a side return or fence line that only gets sun for part of the day, still producing richly scented flowers for appreciative shade-gardeners. |
| Large container on patio or balcony |
Thrives in a 40–50 litre container with good drainage and mulch, letting you enjoy close-up scent and colour even where soil is heavy or space is limited, convenient for space-conscious apartment-dwellers. |
| Specimen with own-root longevity |
As an own-root rose, it regenerates well after hard pruning or weather damage and maintains stable flowering over many years, gradually building into a mature, characterful bush for patient collectors. |
Styling ideas
- Doorway welcome – Plant as a single specimen by your front step with soft pink Verbena hastata ‘Pink Spires’ to echo the bicolour blooms – suited to sociable homeowners who love greeting guests with fragrance.
- Cottage ribbon – Line a short path with DOUBLE DELIGHT and airy verbena, allowing the red-and-white flowers to “float” above gravel or brick – ideal for those seeking a romantic Irish cottage feel in a compact space.
- Sunset border – Combine with Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and warm-toned perennials so its cream, red and salmon-pink stages blend into a fiery late-summer palette – perfect for colour-driven gardeners who enjoy evening strolls.
- Patio perfume – Grow it in a 50 litre terracotta pot by a seating area, underplanted with low herbs, to savour its very strong scent at coffee time – attractive for busy city dwellers who want maximum effect from one container.
- Showpiece hedge – Plant at 55 cm intervals along a front boundary for a fragrant flowering hedge that still needs only light seasonal maintenance – appealing to beginners who want structure, privacy and easy beauty.
Technical cultivar profile
| Parameter | Data |
|---|
| Name and registration |
Hybrid tea rose, registered as ANDeli, marketed as DOUBLE DELIGHT – red-and-white hybrid tea rose; exhibition hybrid tea and cut-flower type within the Rós taehibride commercial group. |
| Origin and breeding |
Bred by Herbert C. Swim with A. E. and A. W. Ellis at Armstrong Nurseries, USA; cross of ‘Granada’ × ‘Garden Party’; introduced and registered in 1977 after US breeding in 1976. |
| Awards and recognition |
Highly decorated: Gold Medals at Baden-Baden and Rome, Geneva fragrance award, All-America Rose Selections winner, World’s Favourite Rose and James Alexander Gamble Fragrance Award for scent. |
| Growth and structural characteristics |
Bushy hybrid tea shrub, typically 110–150 cm high and 75–105 cm wide, moderately thorny with medium-dense, glossy foliage; spent blooms persist and usually need light deadheading by hand. |
| Flower morphology |
Large, double, high-centred hybrid tea blooms over 10 cm, 26–39 petals, mainly solitary on long stems; remontant with abundant repeat flushes in suitable conditions through the flowering season. |
| Colour data and phenology |
Cream-white base petals bordered by intense carmine red, deepening in strong light; colours fade only slightly, moving through raspberry-red and salmon-pink tones with a soft, blended bicolour effect. |
| Fragrance and aroma |
Very strong, sweet-spicy fragrance characteristic of classic hybrid teas, detectable from a distance in still air; excellent choice for scented gardens, cut flowers and fragrance-focused plantings. |
| Hip characteristics |
Hip set is generally sparse due to the double blooms; where pollinated, it may form occasional small, spherical red hips around 10–14 mm in diameter, adding modest late-season interest. |
| Resistance and winter hardiness |
Rated resistant to powdery mildew and black spot with moderate rust susceptibility; hardy to approximately −26 to −23 °C (USDA 5b, RHS H7, Swedish zone 4) with regular watering in prolonged drought. |
| Horticultural recommendations |
Suited to beds, specimen use and cutting; prefers sun with some tolerance of partial shade; plant at 65 cm in masses or 55 cm for hedges, with good drainage and mulch over heavier Irish clay soils. |
DOUBLE DELIGHT offers richly scented, bicoloured exhibition blooms on a long-lived, own-root hybrid tea that rewards light care with years of reliable flowering, making it a thoughtful choice for a cherished spot in your garden.
