The seven regions behind the cities
Regions group towns that behave alike. Useful for a second question — what grows like it does here — once you know your city.
The Growing Regions of Montana: Why Your Neighbor's Garden Doesn't Look Like Yours
Two hours of driving, just to stand in a garden a stranger on the internet swore was "the same climate as yours." It wasn't. Their tomatoes climbed eight feet up a…
The Northwest: Flathead and Mission Valleys
You moved here for the water and the trees, and now you want a garden that looks like them.
The Western Valleys: Missoula and the Bitterroot
You planted a peach on the flattest, most open piece of ground you own. Flat and open means sun, you figured, and sun means fruit. It died in its second spring. Six…
The Southwest Valleys: Gallatin, Madison, Park and Beaverhead
You came for the mountains, the skiing, and that particular light, and you bought a lot in a new subdivision where every yard is bare and every neighbor is guessing…
Central Montana: The Helena Valley and the Upper Missouri
Your evergreens came through the winter brown on one side and green on the other, and it was the southwest side that burned. So you went hunting for a hardiness…
South-Central Montana: The Yellowstone Valley and the Beartooths
Drive southwest out of Billings in the last week of September and your tomatoes are still setting fruit behind you. The Beartooth wall stands over the town. Climb…
The Hi-Line: Milk River and the Northern Plains
You would expect the northern edge of Montana to be the hardest ground in the state to grow anything on. It isn't. Havre runs about 136 frost-free days, roughly 20…
Southeast Montana: Powder River and the Lower Yellowstone
Glendive runs about 160 frost-free days, the longest growing season in Montana. Not the Flathead. Not the Bitterroot. The far southeast: short-grass prairie, out…
