Why do you, Nicole, persist with making mean comments about other people's photos. You really should stop. Thank you.

Yes we agree, calling this photo is raunchy is both rude and counterproductive to HMF's goals. HMF's photo pages are not intended to be a contest for the most perfect bloom photo. Photos exploring different aspects of each plant, both good and bad, are always welcome.

Poor photos are those out of focus or too distant to discern any unique characteristics of the subject matter. This photo is neither and well depicts a less then ideal bloom and can be useful for identification.

It looks just like Double Delight blooms that open on cloudy days here. DD needs the sun to give it the red normally seen on its blooms.

Nice photo Seil!

Double delight grown in the shade looks exactly like this. I have one that only gets sun before the tree above it leafs out in the spring. I think the first commenter got it dead wrong here. Indeed, way back when they were breeding this rose, they almost missed its unique form of phototropicity (its propensity to turn red in the sun) and it almost got discarded as just another white rose (or so the rumor mill has it). That was because the hybridizers first review the roses in the greenhouse, where they get no natural sunlight.

Here's an experiment for you -- next time you see a bud just about to open, move something overhead to shade it for a few days. See what you get! Even as a white rose, it still smells wonderful.

Hi Nicole,

This is indeed a very pale DD and was posted here for just that reason, to illustrate the wide color range of this rose. If you check here you will see a progression of photos I did of one bloom over a 24 hour period and how much it can change in that short time frame.

http://www.helpmefind.com/plant/pics.php?l=2.1598&nr=-62440

It's one of DD's most charming traits I think, besides that killer fragrance. The plant itself is prone to blackspot and not all that vigorous or hardy for me, dying to the ground each winter, which is how I ended up with two of them. Thinking my Mom's beloved DD had died one spring I purchased another. I didn't get the new one planted immediately for various reasons and when I finally got to it the old one had sprouted one measly basal. So I dug it up and potted it thinking it would never make it but unable to part with Mom's rose. Of course it lived and is now blooming better in the pot than it ever did in the ground. And the new one in the ground is slowly building up but still suffers from frequent bouts of blackspot (regardless of spraying) just like the old one did. But when it blooms, well, all is forgiven so it stays.

Thanks, Dave and Roseaholic, for your votes of confidence. Neat expirement idea too! I'll have to try that one myself.