A REVOLUTIONARY rose feed that has won glowing plaudits from some of Britain's leading growers is on the shelves in North Devon.

The new booster, originating in the US but made in the UK, is known as Uncle Tom's Rose Tonic which differs from conventional fertilisers by being based on phosphates rather than potash and nitrogen.

It is primarily a colourless foliar feed, applied several times during the summer, which creates strong root growth, more blooms and, especially significant for this region, fights disease such as black spot and downy mildew. But it can also be utilised by watering around each plant.

Uncle Tom's delivers the essential elements of phosphorus and potassium swiftly to where they are most needed. Yet it contains no nitrogen that often gives lush growth followed by ailments.

Nick Oliver, of St John's Garden Centre in Barnstaple, is selling bottles of the solution "because so many customers kept asking for it".

He admits the £12.99 for 500ml may appear pricey but adds: "The dilution rate of 1 to 100 is very good so it will go a long way."

Indeed, it is reputed to treat 50 plants over an entire season, so that initial outlay will convert into a worthwhile investment if it produces happy and healthy roses.

Meanwhile, the eulogies from famous rose names run thick and fast. Gareth Fryer, of Cheshire-based Fryers Roses, hails Uncle Tom's as "without doubt the best-ever product for roses" and predicts a sales explosion.

And international breeder Colin Dickson, of Northern Ireland, claimed his roses grew faster and better and remained healthier for longer when treated with Uncle Tom's. He also reveals it is the only tonic sprayed onto his roses and rose seedlings.

Finally a tip from Nick Oliver: When spraying your roses, add half-a-dozen drops of washing-up liquid to the solution. This is known as a "spreader" and will prevent the spray from rolling up the foliage in globules in the same way as it binds the water together in the sudsy kitchen sink.

Staying with roses, my son was horrified as I put the secateurs to work in mid-July.

Dead-heading he knows all about. Summer pruning was apparently a little less familiar routine.

The practice is highly beneficial as it promotes fresh growth in time for late summer and early autumn, when many varieties actually deliver blooms as good as the earlies.

Most modern roses, of course, will offer a second flower flush later in the season, yet this display can be advanced and enhanced by cutting back newly-flowered stems by about half, just above a leaf axle, on climbers as well as bush varieties.

Once the job is done, feed with a rose fertiliser such as Uncle Tom's or blood, fish and bone, then add a small handful of sulphate of potash to each plant — a sure-fire way to raise the health ratings the following year. And, as rose lovers in clean-air North Devon know to their cost, rust and black spot spores are for ever lurking.