Country

Moldova: 3 ecoregions. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

Moldova sits on the seam where Europe's forests give way to the steppe. Three ecoregions cross it: the Central European mixed forests from the northwest, the East European forest steppe through the center, and the Pontic steppe reaching in from the south, the latter two both ranked Nature Imperiled. The transition itself is the country's character: a continental climate that grows progressively warmer and drier toward the Black Sea lowlands, with oak-country woodland fading into open grassland. For growers that means the classic temperate broadleaf palette works in the moister north, while the south rewards steppe grasses, drought-tolerant perennials, and trees chosen for hot, dry summers. Plantings that echo the imperiled forest-steppe mosaic, groves set in grassland, fit this landscape naturally.