THE creative director of Southampton based HPW Partnership is off to Ohio next month to address garden centre managers and owners on how to maximise the potential of their sites.

Gary Wilburn will be talking to members of the OFA, an association of floriculture professionals in Columbus, Ohio.

After the two-day seminar for garden centre owners and managers, Gary Wilburn will spend a further two weeks meeting and providing initial consultations to retail groups and independent operators across the USA.

"We have been invited to meet many of the leading retailers following the track record and experience we have generated in the UK," said Mr Wilburn.

HPW's first project within the garden retail sector was for Haskins Garden Centres in Dorset in 1993. It was one of the first new-build centres created. Since then it has worked for 25 clients, from independents to the growing garden centre groups on more than 50 projects across the UK.