How Montana's Changing Climate is Reshaping Gardening

Stalks of corn tower over Greg Price. Their tassels wave in the breeze as Price weaves through rows on a warm September afternoon in Missoula. He points to goldfinches and red-winged blackbirds flitting through the air, smiling when the birds swoop down to the massive face of the randomly dispersed sunflowers among the corn. They’ll snag a few seeds before flapping back into the cottonwood trees bordering River Road Farm, where Price has been director for nearly 25 years.

“We grow these sunflowers just for the birds,” he says. “It’s good food.” The farm’s chickens like it too, easier heard tha...