If there was any doubt that gardening is one of the UK's most popular hobbies, it would be dispelled by a weekend trip to any of the country's garden centres where crowds of green-fingered enthusiasts can be seen scouring for shrubs, bedding plants and climbers.

In fact, garden centres are one of the first examples of destination shopping, where consumers are increasingly prepared to travel outside their immediate neighbourhood to experience greater choice. Indeed, many centres are thriving retail concerns, stocking a wide range of aquatic goods and gifts, as well as plants to tempt gardeners and non-gardeners alike.

One company which has been highly successful in keeping abreast of these trends is
Notcutts. Established in Woodbridge, Suffolk in 1897, the company is one of the UK's oldest
gardening businesses, recognised for value, quality and choice. In 1958, it opened one of the UK's first purpose-built garden centres in Woodbridge and there are now 14 locations as far afield as St Albans, Oxford, Tunbridge Wells, Solihull and Maidstone. All are supplied by Notcutts Nursery's 1,000 acre site which grows over 3,000 different plant varieties and 10,000 different stock lines. The company also holds the national collections of Hibiscus and Lilac plants.

With such a wide range of stock, in-store signage is essential to help Notcutts to advertise what's new, publicise promotions, and as part of high impact seasonal displays. All signage is created in-house at Notcutts Suffolk Headquarters by the company's graphic designer, John Rooney. John uses an Epson large format inkjet printer - the Stylus PRO 7600 - to obtain optimum results when producing his high impact, Point of Purchase posters. The printer was initially supplied on a week's trial by Bournemouth-based print solution providers, The Agency, but Notcutts was so impressed by its quality and reliability that they were quick to invest in the model.

John reported "The Epson printer is completely compatible with my Mac computer and really easy to use. The results are amazing - sometimes even better than what I can see on my screen. We can produce posters in larger sizes than with the old printer and at a fraction of the cost of outsourcing to a professional agency."

The 24" Stylus PRO 7600 features a new printhead technology and ink system which means it can produce posters at resolutions of up to 2880dpi, perfect for replicating the vibrant colour of the blooms featured. Most of the posters are produced in A3 or A2 on waterproof paper but John has also started experimenting with producing banners and using different media, including plastic.

According to John, there is compelling evidence that the posters are making a real difference in Notcutts Garden Centres: "We have seen a 42% rise in sales of Panola bedding plants since we began promoting them with my in-store signage. At least some of the credit for this has to go to the Epson printer as it enables me to produce high quality, larger posters which make a real impact on the customers."