Double Delight is my FAVORITE rose in the world. The flowers are beautiful and the fragrance -- wow!! Though I currently don't grow Double Delight right now, I do have what I think it is called Blue Moon in a large container. I toss into the pot time-released fertilizer, and she blooms for me regularly. I can't remember the size of that pot offhand, but it can be done. Have you checked out the Rose forum for more info?? Good luck!! That's a great rose plant! Barb

Gotta second Barb, DD is my all time favorite rose (closely followed by Intrigue) and I too have seen a million people knock it for its lack of mildew/disease resistance. Yep. All too true. Frankly don't give a hoot. No one's come up with a rose with the knock out looks and unbelievable scent that _is_ disease resistent. Til they do, I'm willing to fight the problems just to get those blooms in my bedroom to wake up to!!!

Anyway -- yes, I've grown 'em in containers. For 8 years I did it. I buried a few too, but as far as I'm concerned my yard wasn't complete without one or even two of 'em in it so here's my hints:

1. Make sure your container has really good drainage and plenty of room. DD is a big rose and should be given some room. Do not try to grow it in less than a 10 gal container, 15 better. Bigger is better. 1/2 whiskey barrels work quite nicely. Be sure that the container has several good-sized drainage holes (one little 1/2 inch thing in the middle is not going to do it. Don't put a layer of rocks/gypsum/etc. in the bottom. Just put a netting or something to keep the dirt from coming out the holes (I use the netting that the fancy tomatoes in the store come in). and use your blended potting mix to fill the container. (If you are worried about weight, mix some styrofoam peanuts _throughout_ the container, not just at the bottom. Do NOT let the pot sit in a saucer full of liquid -- if you have a saucer to protect your deck/etc., make sure that you have pot feet for your pot to keep the rose's roots from being swamped. (I use the bottle lids from bottled water)

When planting, leave at least 1 1/2 inches in the top of your plant for fertilizing and watering.

2. Use a 3 to 1 mixture of high-nutrient (high-quality) potting soil to a high-quality cactus mix potting soil (to insure good drainage). Mix in a few tbsp full of a granulated hydrating polymer like Soil Moist or STA-Moist.

3. This rose will get powdery mildew if there's the slightest chance, so don't mess around. If you see little white spots of downy looking stuff show up on the leaves ___leap___ into action and a) pull off the affected leaves and b) spray. Same deal with Rust. Frankly on mine, I start spraying prophylactically with Safer garden fungicide as soon as the fog rolls in in June in my region. Sad, but DD is very susceptible to fungus stuff.

4. Water gently!!! Do not splash the leaves, especially do not splash the leaves with water bouncing up from the dirt in the plant. This encourages fungus stuff.

5. Keep your container in an area where it gets good air circulation. You cannot espalier this rose against a wall (unlike some roses like Royal Sunset that can live perfectly happily right up against other things) -- there just isn't enough air circulation to combat the susceptibility to fungus stuff.

6. Light/Heat: DD is actually pretty forgiving in terms of hours of sunlight/heat. While I wouldn't suggest planting it in shade, I have two that have done pretty darn well with only morning sun, even in a coastal area. They get direct sun from 7 am to about noon and have been just peachy. Granted the one that gets 10 am to 4 pm is bigger and produces more, the two morning ladies are perfectly respectable.

7. Fertilizing.... Hmmm. Well, I'm just a big fan of chicken poop. I sprinkle a cupful into the pot every month or so. During the big spring growth spurt, I add a sprinkle of Epsom salts a week after the second month's poop dose and they seem to go like gangbusters. Some time in mid summer after I've done a lot of cutting, I supplement the chicken poop routine with a fish emulsion dose (about 2 weeks after the chicken poop sprinkle) and then the following week do another Epsom salts dose.

Tuesdayschild--my husband and I read all your directions and he said (quoting) "she must be a very generous person to give you the time to write all that information!" I agree. Thank you SO much. I am going to follow all your directions. I don't know where to find chicken poop though...I'm in a pretty suburban neighborhood. If not though, I have the seaweed fert. and the Epsom salts.

Barbara in LA, thank you too. I really appreciate all the support and encouragement!

I admit, I'm a little nervous that I might goof this up but I'm going to give it the ol' college try! We just got hit with a TON of rain from a Nor'Eastern that was in the region for over a week!! Ugh. But I'm going to transplant it into a large pot (going to store to buy a real big one today) with lots of holes.

No blooms right now but when and if I am so lucky, I'll try to post a photo. My best effort to thank you for all the kind advice. : )

Hey we all love to muck around in dirt here... generosity is sharing with other happy muckers!!

The chicken poop is pretty easy to come by (buy) these days -- most good nurseries will sell it in regular bags (just like potting soil) and its even "de-stinkified" -- got me, I don't know how they do it, but it reeks a lot less than the regular stuff (Let me tell you about the experience of 10 years ago, having to pick up 25 cubic feet of "real" chicken manure, load it into/onto my Honda Prelude, dump it into the garden for the rototiller team to hit it, and then hightail it off to the Nordstrom's designer circle to pick out a formal ball gown the night before I left for Paris.......gotta say something for the Nordstrom service ethos: Not one person sneezed or made a face in my presence as they swept the gowns into my dressing room -- I said fit me fast and they did, by god, no matter what I smelled like!!!!)

I flat-out adore this rose. Nothing can beat its scent for me, so I'm willing to put up with the fact that its an old one without the benefits of modern fungal-resistant breeding. I keep praying that some wonderful rose breeder will come up with a rose that looks and smells like this one with all of the wondrous resistance of my newer roses, but no one has yet. And if I want that incredible spicy lemony scent in my bedroom to wake up to, I'm just gonna have to go the extra mile. I'd just love it if someone would point me to something that would be easier to work with that had that punch, but I've never found one!

Good luck, and remember -- I've buried not a few. I'm not dedicated to the individual rose bush -- I want that rose. Over 25 years and 4 gardens, I've had to call it quits on several of them (especially when trying to grow it in west San Francisco in the fog), but it can be done!
Cheers, Tuesday

So how's your DD coming along??? It's one of my favorite roses and smells wonderful.
Kathi

Cremin - I would also like to know how your DD is doing. We got a DD about a month ago and it's in a very large container on our deck. I've managed it pretty much as tuesdayschild has suggested and it's doing more or less beautifully. It had two blooms when we brought it home and now it has sixteen; there are no words to describe how gorgeous they are! Its smell fills the deck. One of our cats stretches up and puts her face into the most blown flowers.

But it does have blackspot. I'm very careful about watering it on the soil rather than than the leaves, and spray it with Rose Defense weekly, but still must pick off those spotty leaves. It's up on clay feet, so has good drainage and gets a lot of sun, so we're hoping that it will be okay. However, I figure that a dozen cut long-stem roses would cost more than my DD did, and would be gone in two weeks.

Good luck with yours and let us know how it's growing.

I use the Bayer rose and flower food on mine ,it's a systemic and so keeps the disesaes and bugs in check.HTH
Kathi

how is the DD doing in container now Cremin? just curious and want to see the booms:)