Native Plants of Montana
The native plants that belong in your yard — what to plant for pollinators, by zone, with bloom timing and a species table.
- Native species grouped by sun, soil, and wildlife value
- Bloom windows and pollinator host-plant pairings
- What belongs in your USDA zone
- A full species table you can take to the nursery
- Typical planting windows, month by month
$9.99one-time
Instant download · yours to keep, with no account and no renewal · full refund within 30 days
A look inside
What the Montana pages actually look like
From the Montana edition
Some of what is actually in it
49 native species are profiled for Montana, chosen for hardiness zones 3a–5b. A dozen of them:
- Showy Milkweed
- Wild Bergamot
- Aromatic Aster
- Stiff Goldenrod
- Purple Prairie Clover
- Blue Vervain
- Little Bluestem
- Big Bluestem
- Switchgrass
- Sideoats Grama
- Blue Grama
- Maximilian Sunflower
How the Montana year breaks down
Counted, not claimed
Something in the Montana list is in bloom from March through November, and June is the peak — 26 of the 49 species are flowering then.
11 of them are caterpillar host plants and 9 support specialist bees — the ones that do the most work in Montana yards.
In the box
Exactly what you receive
| Montana pages | 9 pages — the species table, bloom windows and planting calendar |
|---|---|
| Format | PDF, laid out for both Letter and A4 |
| Delivery | An instant download link, plus a link you can re-open for 72 hours |
| Access | Yours to keep — no expiry, no account, no subscription |
| Refunds | Full refund within 30 days, no questions |
How it works
From checkout to the field
Buy it
Checkout takes a card and an email address — no account to create.
Open it straight away
The download link appears immediately and the Montana files are yours to keep.
Use it through the year
Print the Montana pages you want and take them outside; they are laid out with room to write on as the season moves.
Free and paid, side by side
The Montana pages here stay free. Here is what the edition adds.
| The free Montana pages | Native Plants of Montana | |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | The month Montana is in, free and always | All twelve Montana months, planned before they arrive |
| Garden timing | The notes for your zone, once the site knows it | Every Montana zone from 3a–5b, side by side on the page |
| Where you can read it | On a screen, wherever Montana has signal | On paper, in the field, with no signal at all |
| Price | Free, and staying that way | $9.99 once — no renewal, no account |
Before you buy
Who this is for
Made for
- Gardeners in Montana planting for pollinators rather than for a catalogue
- Anyone replacing lawn with something that belongs here
- New Montana gardeners who want the timing decided for them
Not for
- Anyone wanting exotic ornamentals; every species here is native to Montana
- Precise planting dates — Montana timing is given as windows
Everything here describes typical timing across Montana, drawn from long-run records — weather, elevation and how close you are to water all move the real dates around. So the Montana pages say "usually early May" and never "May 4th", which is not hedging but the most the data can honestly carry.
Where it comes from
Compiled from
USDA PLANTS Database · GBIF occurrence records · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center · USA National Phenology Network · The Xerces Society · Cooperative Extension (land-grant directory). How each of these is used in the Montana edition, and which figures are measured rather than modeled, is set out in the methodology.
Questions
Before you decide
Is this specific to Montana, or a national guide with the name swapped in?
It is built from Montana's own data. The 49 species in it were filtered to those with verified occurrence records in Montana and to hardiness zones 3a–5b.
Montana spans several hardiness zones — which one does this cover?
All of them. Montana runs 3a–5b, and the guide carries each zone's timing rather than picking one and hoping it fits your garden.
How accurate is the timing for Montana?
It describes typical timing across Montana drawn from long-run records, and because weather, elevation and habitat move real Montana dates around it says "usually early May" rather than "May 4th".
Is it worth paying when the Montana pages here are free?
The free Montana pages are the month you are in; this is the whole Montana year, planned before it arrives and printable, so you are not holding a screen in the garden.
Will it work for my part of Montana, or just the big cities?
It is written at state resolution — Montana as a whole, with regional notes where Montana genuinely differs end to end, and nothing behind it is recorded finely enough to honestly promise more than that.
What format is the Montana edition, and can I print it?
A PDF laid out for both Letter and A4, one page per sheet — printing it is the point, since the Montana pages are made to be carried outside.
What if the Montana guide is not what I expected?
Email hello@birchcompass.com within 30 days for a full refund on the Montana edition, and keep the files either way — asking for them back would be theatre.
Prefer to read online first? The free Montana native plants reference covers the same ground on screen.
The rest of the Montana shelf
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