Gardening is a uniquely healthy, relaxing and inspirational activity. Planting a seed or seedling is perhaps the ultimate expression of optimism. The beautiful blooms and bountiful harvests we labor to cultivate can provide matchless feelings of accomplishment and pride. But we don’t do it alone. The creatures we collectively call pollinators are there in the background, working to make it possible. Many gardeners find great personal satisfaction observing and helping to protect the pollinators their gardens welcome and nurture. What’s a pollinator? The simplest definition is any agent that transfers pollen from the male portion of a flower to the female portion of a flower is a pollinator. Most pollinators work under our radar and are easily overlooked when a garden receives the admiring human gaze. A closer look into the flower of a plant in bloom may reveal a small invertebrate creature covered in pollen.

Bees, beetles, flies, wasps, moths and butterflies are all common pollinators, but bats, birds, small mammals and even lizards contribute pollination services to flowering plants. The goal of every creature we call a pollinator is the caloric reward of nectar or pollen that will power them to the next flower. Along the way, they will inadvertently be carrying pollen. When they visit that next genetically compatible and receptive flower, pollination can happen. Because many pollinators coevolved with flowering plants, they can be mutually dependent. A hummingbird hovering in front of a salvia is a more specialized pollinator, uniquely equipped to draw nectar from long tubular flowers while picking up and carrying pollen to the next. Many pollinators will visit a wide selection of flowers, but some, like the iconic monarch butterfly, depend exclusively on one plant — in this case, milkweed — to complete its life cycle. Even the wind can be a pollinator. But the wind is not threatened with extinction.

It’s estimated that the western monarch has suffered a 99% reduction in its population since the 1980s, largely because of habitat loss. That means that it can’t find the once-ubiquitous milkweed plants it needs to complete its complex life cycle and remarkable migration. Because its decline has been closely studied, the monarch is considered a “signal” species. It’s raising a faded orange and black flag, signaling that it’s likely many of the other 350,000 pollinator species worldwide are also in decline. All pollinators contribute in their own unique way to the biodiversity upon which our entire ecosystem and our agricultural systems depend.The good news is that we can all help extend the habitat and migratory corridors by planting pollinator-friendly plants in our home gardens. Ideally, they are planted in groupings, with an eye toward sequential bloom over the course of Marin’s growing season. More is always better, but even just a few in pots or planters on porches and balconies can provide a vital nutritional oasis.

The UC Marin Master Gardeners can help. Their annual pollinator plant sale is from 9 a.m. to noon March 1 at the Falkirk Cultural Center in San Rafael. We’ve carefully selected more than 40 different species of plants for this sale. These plants are beautiful, highly desirable to a range of pollinators and well suited to growing in Marin’s Mediterranean climate. The sale will include more than 250 narrowleaf milkweeds, multiple varieties of cosmos, coneflowers, lupines, salvias and many other species. Four-inch pots start at $6 each.

For more information, including photos, descriptions and the important cultural needs of each species, go to marinmg.ucanr.edu/ASK_US/EVENTS/PollinatorPlants">marinmg.ucanr.edu/ASK_US/EVENTS/PollinatorPlants.

Sponsored by UC Cooperative Extension, the University of California Marin Master Gardeners provides science- and research-based information for Marin home gardeners. Email questions to helpdesk@marinmg.org. Attach photos for inquiries about plant pests or diseases. Please call 415-473-4910 to see when a master gardener will be at the office or drop off samples 24/7 in the sample box outside the office. To attend a gardening workshop or subscribe to Leaflet, a free quarterly e-newsletter, go to marinmg.ucanr.edu.