Homegrown
Teton Valley summers are short but sweet. Even shorter, it seems, is the summer growing season. We caught up with four avid gardeners positioned from Tetonia to Victor to share a snapshot of their hearty plots. When asked about their biggest challenge, they all shared the same sentiment: the climate. But the challenge of overcoming Mother Nature’s uncertainty might just fuel their thirst for gardening even further.
Connie Mohr, North End
An avid hobbyist gardener, Connie Mohr is celebrated for her lush garden that produces impressive veggies. Residing at the north end of the valley, Connie enjoys spending the warm, long days digging in the dirt and tending to her veggies, which end up on her dinner table.
“Challenges for us include dealing with water—we primarily use rainwater and that can get scarce. Plus, those cold June nights can take a toll.”
Paul Forester, Driggs
Driggs resident Paul Forester refers to his style of gardening as small urban farming. Cultivating and producing his own food in his downtown Driggs small plot allows him to grow a majority of the food he needs in the summer using a small footprint of his backyard. “I’m most passionate about small urban farming and how much food we can produce on a very small piece of land,” he says.
Time spent with my hands in the dirt grounds my soul! I’m not sure if it’s the process of growing or what I grow that I enjoy more.”
Judy Allen, Darby
Judy Allen, an avid gardener and educator of all-things Teton Valley growing, shares her high-elevation vegetable gardening expertise through her volunteer consulting work with the local schools’ gardening program. She also rents beds to the public at Darby Canyon Gardens, her personal garden space located at the mouth of Darby Canyon. “I love living in my mountain home and being able to grow food for my family,” she says.
“One year it’s snowing until July 4 and the next we have record heat. Or 40 to 50 degree temperature swings in just one day! This requires plants—and gardeners—with extreme adaptability.”
Kate Stitt, Victor
Landscape designer Kate Stitt takes her love of gardening from her professional life to her personal life. The owner and landscape designer at Blue Angel Garden Design, when Kate isn’t crafting stunning backyards and lush terraces for clients, she’s digging, sometimes reluctantly with a pickaxe, in her own garden beds south of Victor.
What I love most about gardening in the Tetons is defying all odds when it comes to the weather. Despite temperatures that drop into the low thirties and even high twenties at night in June or August, perennials have such resiliency.”
