I'm afraid I never was a fan of Wayside. I've always loved their catalogue. There have been years when I ordered a lot from them. But everything failed in a year or two. Not sure I got any roses from them, though.
My first David Austin roses were from a Jackson & Perkins catalogue: Graham Thomas, Fair Bianca, and ... I forget, in the early nineties. GT got "green giant syndrome" growing quickly to six ft in each direction and bearing no flowers. Fair Bianca never grew at all, bearing one or two. Took me a while to really get the English Rose thing. But now I'm hooked. Abe Darby and Crocus Rose are two of the best roses in my garden, though I think Abe could turn into a monster without some pruning.
I agree that on a cost per rose basis in the first year, DA roses are pricey. But when I consider the survival rate - DA roses are survivors - I think perhaps at the end of three years they are less expensive per surviving plant than those from pretty much any other supplier I can think of. Unless they are moved at the wrong time of year, they just keep going and going. Not always true for roses from VG, ARE, RVR, Edmunds, etc.
