FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Gas up the car, study the state map and make some sandwiches: Spring has officially sprung in the Garvan Woodland Gardens. A project of the University of Arkansas landscape architecture department, the Gardens are located in Hot Springs and well worth a road-trip this month.

The Gardens will celebrate the opening of a new 70-acre bird sanctuary with a ribbon cutting April 13. Half of the acreage will open now, centering on a new one-mile trail, feeding stations and a water feature incorporating a rock spring and shoreline access for the birds. A partially camouflaged observation deck will allow visitors to spy on year-round residents such as pileated woodpeckers, and migratory birds, including bald eagles, currently passing through.

Garvan Woodland Gardens will be bursting with colorful blooms and caroling songbirds during the next few weeks.

"We planted 37,500 tulips in January, and they’re opening up at a rate of about 250 an hour right now," said David Davies, executive director of the Gardens. Dogwoods and red buds, shoe button spirea, hyacinths, snowflakes, tulip magnolias and wild plum also are dazzling visitors.

"It’s an absolutely spectacular time of the year," Davies noted, "and then the azaleas will start blooming in late April. And the beautiful thing is, it’s not hot."

The 210-acre woodland botanical gardens were donated by Verna Cook Garvan to the University of Arkansas School of Architecture in 1985, and opened to the public last April. Located on 4.5 miles of Lake Hamilton shoreline, they feature more than 128 species of ornamental and native shrubs and wildflowers, 160 different types of azaleas, a four-acre Asian garden with a 12-foot waterfall, three unique bridges and a sandstone pavilion designed by E. Fay Jones and Maurice Jennings.

On May 10, the Gardens will introduce a carefully crafted rock amphitheater carved into a natural hillside bowl that overlooks Lake Hamilton. The amphitheater, which seats 500, will open with a concert by Trout Fishing in America.

Gardens staff and University of Arkansas landscape architect professors are currently initiating the design phase of another ambitious project, a 6-acre children’s garden that is slated for construction in the fall.

"This garden will uniquely offer a nature retreat dedicated to young children and their care-givers," said Fran Beatty, University of Arkansas landscape architecture department head. "Unlike a neighborhood playlot and jungle gym, this place seeks to connect with the child’s imagination by using the site’s features and designing to be evocative of its woodland setting."

Garvan Woodland Gardens recently won a Tourism Special Achievement Award, one of the Henry Awards announced at the 29th annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism, in recognition for its contributions to the tourism industry in Arkansas. Davies believes the Gardens’ role as the state’s sole botanical garden netted the prize.

"We may have 45 lakes and 50 state parks, but there’s only one Garvan Gardens," he said.

Richard Davies, executive director of State Parks and Tourism, said that the Gardens are something that stands above the crowd.

"The thing that impressed us is that they have done a first-class job in the Gardens’ design and construction. The layout and architecture of the Gardens is as much an attraction to me as the trees and flowers."

For more information on Garvan Woodland Gardens, including maps and directions to the site, check their Web site at http://www.garvangardens.org/.