It came within a heartbeat of being just another English garden. Walter and Marion Beck were well on their way to putting in something very traditional, European, and floral when they began work on their Millbrook, New York, property in the 1930s. Then the land spoke to them.

The Award for Garden Excellence, given yearly by the American Public Gardens Association (APGA) and sponsored by Horticulture, honors the public garden that best exemplifies the highest standards of horticultural practices and that has shown a commitment to supporting and demonstrating the best gardening techniques. The APGA and Horticulture are proud to honor the Chicago Botanic Garden, in Glencoe, Illinois, as the winner of the 2006 award. . . .

In our July/August 2004 issue, contributing editor Lauren Springer describes the challenges she faced when gardening in the foothills west of Fort Collins, Colorado, and lists the plants she came to find success with. Here, we bring you Springer’s expanded plant lists — those listed in the magazine, as well as a number of additional choices. . . .

THAT ARMAGEDDON COMES TO TEXAS, not just at the end of the millennium, but every August, endows gardens here with much of their uniqueness. . . .

It is only upon close inspection of the broad, curving borders embracing the house and front and rear lawns that one appreciates what a vast assortment of plants they contain and realizes that, however tastefully subdued the surroundings, this is, nevertheless, the domain of an adventurous — make that obsessive — plant addict . . .