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Every year a group of local volunteers designate a number of properties for Bozeman Beautification Awards. This time one of the awards goes to a new community garden sitting right next to Bozeman City Hall.

The night's hard freeze may have taken some of the life from the tall golden sunflowers, but that doesn't take away the beauty. Not according to the chairperson of the beautification advisory board. Terry Quatraro says it's a healthy project.

"It's healthy because you can get out in the fresh air, it's healthy because you can have a sense of accomplishment," Quatraro said.

Some of the gardeners yielded hundreds of dollars of food.

"Just in tomatoes have probably gotten $70 of organic tomatoes," garden designer Errol Schumann said.

Last spring, KBZK reporter Dan Boyce brought us a story about the gardens, and decided to plant a garden of his own. His plot is number 19.

"Well, my roommate and I had never gardened before so we wanted to give this a shot. As you can see our dedication to the cause was absolutely stalwart," Boyce said.

"They're all important and everyone's dedication definitely paid off and helped," Schumann said. "The award was presented not necessarily based on how many weeds are in a plot or how it's growing, it's the fact that the idea is very timely in our current economic market."

She adds the beauty comes from the people participating, which I found very diplomatic.

The garden will receive its award along with the 13 other beautification winners during a ceremony on Nov. 5.