June opens Montana's high country at last — the snow retreats off the passes, Glacier's subalpine meadows fill with glacier lily and beargrass, and the alpine wildlife emerges into the brief mountain summer. The plains and foothills are at their lush green peak, breeding birds are everywhere, and the long days stretch toward the solstice.
Week by week in June
June 4–10
- Beargrass sends up tall creamy plumes on the subalpine slopes of Glacier and the northwest mountains in its pulse years as the high country opens.
- The high country comes alive as roads open — mountain bluebirds, Clark's nutcrackers, American dippers on the streams, and white-tailed ptarmigan above treeline.
- Even the cold high basins reach their frost-free window now — set out the last tomatoes, squash, and beans across the state.
June 11–17
- Logan Pass and the high trails reach their flower peak — glacier lily, monkeyflower, paintbrush, and alpine forget-me-not in the subalpine meadows.
- Harlequin ducks raise young on the fast, clear mountain rivers, and breeding song fills the cottonwood bottoms across the state.
- The first Rocky Mountain parnassians drift slow and low over the opening subalpine meadows and talus of Glacier and the Beartooths.
June 18–24
- The summer solstice brings Montana's shortest nights, with true darkness squeezed into the small hours and lingering twilight all night at this high latitude.
- Foothills shift to summer color — blanketflower, blue flax, scarlet gilia, sticky geranium, and the first fireweed along roadsides and burns.
- Markets fill out with spring crops — peas, radishes, baby carrots, kohlrabi, abundant herbs, and the first strawberries in warm valleys.
June 25 – July 1
- Breeding song quiets as birds tend nestlings, but the wetlands raise broods of ducks, grebes, terns, coots, and white-faced ibis.
- Stay up late for the rising Milky Way — by the small hours its bright core stands in the southeast over the mountains, best from Glacier's high passes.
- The high-country huckleberries of the northwest forests finish flowering and begin setting the fruit that will ripen in July and August.
Birds This Month
June is the heart of Montana's breeding season, and the whole state sings. The grasslands ring with western meadowlarks, lark buntings, chestnut-collared longspurs, Sprague's pipits displaying high overhead, bobolinks, and grasshopper and Baird's sparrows. The cottonwood bottoms hold nesting yellow warblers, western tanagers, lazuli buntings, Bullock's orioles, and black-headed grosbeaks, and the wetlands raise broods of ducks, black terns, Forster's terns, eared and western grebes, and white-faced ibis.
This is the month to climb into the mountains as the roads open. Glacier National Park and the high country come alive with mountain bluebirds, Clark's nutcrackers, gray jays, white-tailed ptarmigan, rosy-finches, American dippers on the rushing streams, Townsend's solitaires, and breeding warblers and flycatchers. In the northwest, common loons are on nests at the southern edge of their range, and harlequin ducks raise young on the fast clear mountain rivers.
This month's tip: bird the mountain trails as the high country opens, watching for ptarmigan, dippers, and rosy-finches, and respect nesting closures around loon lakes and raptor cliffs — June is the most sensitive month for Montana's nesting birds.
What's Blooming
June is the second of Montana's two best wildflower months and the moment the high country joins the show. As the snow pulls back off the subalpine meadows, the famous Glacier display begins: sheets of brilliant yellow glacier lily at the very edge of the melting drifts, the tall creamy plumes of beargrass in its pulse years, white spring beauty, pink mountain heather, monkeyflower, and alpine forget-me-not. Logan Pass and the high trails reach their flower peak as June turns to July.
The foothills and valleys still carry the tail of the spring show — arrowleaf balsamroot, lupine, and the last bitterroot — now giving way to summer's blanketflower, blue flax, wild rose, scarlet gilia, penstemons, sticky geranium, yarrow, and the first fireweed. The wet meadows glow with blue camas, elephant's head, and shooting stars. Few places on the continent pack more bloom into June than Montana's range of foothill, valley, and alpine habitats.
Garden This Month
June is the green-light month for the whole state — even the cold high basins reach their frost-free window now, so the last warm-season crops go in. Set out any remaining tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, melons, and beans, and direct-sow beans, corn, and more squash where the soil has warmed. Keep a succession of greens, lettuce, carrots, beets, and radishes going, and thin and weed diligently as the long days drive explosive growth.
Water becomes the central task in Montana's semi-arid summer: water deeply and early, mulch heavily to hold moisture against the dry wind and intense high-elevation sun, and run drip or soaker lines where you can. Scout for the season's pests — flea beetles, cutworms, cabbage worms, aphids, and grasshoppers, which can build fast in dry years — and stake and tie tomatoes against sudden thunderstorm winds. Keep the first June frost in mind in the high valleys, and keep new trees and shrubs watered through their first dry summer.
Zone 3b (high plains & cold valleys): June is finally safe-planting time here — the frost-free window opens, so set out tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans, and cucumbers now, ideally with walls of water or row cover, since the season is short and a stray frost still possible. Direct-sow the warm crops too while the soil is warm.
Zone 4a (central & eastern plains): finish setting out all warm-season crops early in the month, keep succession-sowing greens and beans, and shift to summer care — deep watering, mulching, and thinning — as the long days drive fast growth.
Zone 5a (warm valleys like the Bitterroot & lower Yellowstone): everything is in and growing fast — focus on deep watering, mulching, staking tomatoes, and succession-sowing beans, greens, and carrots; the long June days push spectacular growth in the warm valleys.
What's at the Farmers Market
June fills out Montana's farmers markets. The spring crops are in full flow — asparagus (early in the month), rhubarb, spinach, lettuce, arugula, and salad mixes, radishes, green onions, baby carrots and beets, kohlrabi, peas, and the first summer squash by month's end, with abundant fresh herbs. The first strawberries ripen in the warm valleys.
Vegetable and flower starts taper off as cut-flower peonies, lupines, and early bouquets take over the flower tables. Ranch-direct Montana beef and lamb, local honey, eggs, and pantry lentils, dry peas, and flour round out the stands. Snap peas and the first squash are sweetest the day they're picked; refrigerate berries and greens unwashed and use them within a day or two, and keep cut herbs in a glass of water on the counter rather than letting them wilt in the fridge.
Night Sky This Month
June brings Montana's shortest nights of the year around the solstice, with true darkness squeezed into the small hours — but the high country opens for the best mountain stargazing. Glacier National Park, an International Dark Sky Park, runs its summer star parties and the Dusty Star Observatory programs as the Going-to-the-Sun Road clears, an extraordinary place to watch the sky from the high passes. The dark plains of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and the high Centennial Valley stay inky on these short nights.
The reward for staying up late is the rising Milky Way: by the small hours the bright galactic core stands in the southeast over the mountains, the best of the deep-sky season just beginning. The Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb, and Altair climbs in the east, Scorpius with red Antares arcs low in the south, and orange Arcturus rides overhead. Montana's high latitude means lingering twilight all night and, on active nights, a chance of aurora low in the north.
Exact planet positions and meteor dates change each year — the printable Montana night-sky guide lists this season's planet visibility and the darkest accessible sites near you.
Butterflies & Pollinators
June is one of the richest butterfly months across all of Montana's elevations. In the valleys and foothills the western tiger and pale swallowtails patrol the streams, the bold black-and-white Weidemeyer's admirals work the willow canyons, and the slopes swarm with fritillaries, checkerspots, blues, coppers, sulphurs, painted ladies, and a wealth of skippers on the blanketflower, lupine, and wild rose. As the high country opens, the mountain butterflies finally emerge: by late June the first Rocky Mountain parnassians drift slow and low over the subalpine meadows and talus, and high ridgeline specialists begin to appear in Glacier and the Beartooths. Monarchs trickle in on the plains east of the Divide to lay eggs on milkweed. This abundance follows the bloom up the mountain — the glacier lily, beargrass, and alpine wildflowers of the high meadows feed a whole suite of butterflies that exist nowhere else in the state, making a June hike up an opening pass one of the great Montana butterfly experiences.
What to plant for them is in the Montana native plants guide
Trees This Month
June finds Montana's trees in full summer growth, and the green at last reaches the high country. The subalpine forest wakes as the snow clears: Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, lodgepole pine, and gnarled whitebark pine near treeline push their new growth and release pollen, and the high western larch and alpine larch stand in their soft new needles. Lower down, the ponderosa pines and Douglas-firs finish flushing their candles.
In the valleys and on the plains, the plains cottonwoods are still shedding drifts of cotton along the rivers, the aspens are in full quaking leaf, and the orchards of the Flathead have set their cherry and apple fruit. The native fruiting shrubs of the draws — serviceberry, chokecherry, wild plum, and the mountain huckleberry of the northwest forests — finish flowering and begin to set the fruit that will ripen in July and August. The whole forest, valley floor to treeline, is now in active growth in the long days.
Weather & Daylight
Across Montana, a typical June day averages a high near 72°F and a low near 46°F, with about 2.9 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Full summer warmth settles in, 72F afternoons and the year's heaviest rain making the air feel humid and lush.
| Average high | 72°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 46°F |
| Precipitation | 2.9 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 5:25 MT |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 21:17 MT |
Figures are statewide averages over the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals; local conditions vary with elevation and distance from the coast. Sunrise and sunset are computed for a midstate point on the 15th (MT).
Next month's version of this page, by email
One short note when Montana's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
Go deeper with the Montana guides
The complete Montana birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: June in Nebraska · June in Nevada · June in New Hampshire