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GARDEN DIRECTOR SHOWS OFF HIS BLOOMS

By Erin France/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 12:16 AM CDT

Pine Bluff Rotary Club members were treated to a walk in the park during their Tuesday meeting at the Pine Bluff Country Club.

Bob Byers, garden director at Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, addresses the Pine Bluff Rotary Tuesday afternoon at the Pine Bluff Country Club. Pine Bluff Commercial/Ralph Fitzgerald

Bob Byers, the University of Arkansas’s Garvan Woodland Garden director, spoke to Rotary members and shared photographs of the 210-acre garden in Hot Springs National Park.

Namesake

The garden’s namesake is Verna Cook Garvan, noted as one of the first female chief executive officers of a major southern manufacturing business in 1932, Byers said.

“That was quite a challenge for her,” he said.

But Garvan wanted to leave a legacy, Byers said, and she wanted people to know what plants they could grow in Arkansas.

“She wanted to educate about natural beauty,” he said.

Byers showed pictures of tiny forest trilliums, a shot of more than 160,000 flower-strong Daffodil Hill, as well as striking buildings available for weddings and events.

He said the park has about 270 such events scheduled for this year.

The garden hopes to become an economic engine attracting tourists to the state, Byers said.

“We hope that the benefit will continue to ripple out throughout the state,” he said.

To that end, Garvan Woodland Gardens is working from a master plan with an estimated cost of about $66 million, he said.

“We do have a checklist for the garden,” Byers said.

Improvements

Already about $18 million has gone into improvements such as a rose exhibit and a garden geared toward children, he said.

Most of those funds have come from the state legislature and private donors, Byers said.

“The state is really getting behind us and helping us out,” he added.

Garvan Woodland Gardens is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets cost $8.75 for adults, $7.75 for ages 55 and older, $4.50 for ages 6-12 and is free for 5 year olds and under.

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