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Year-round food and water are essential for habitat gardens. Photo: Bridget Ahearn "The birds and the bees" is a sweet expression, but the work of pollinators is a serious business. Without pollination, life on Earth would cease.

Some perennials bloom exuberantly in the heat of summer. Photo: Creative Commons When temperatures rise, everyone feels the heat even your garden. If you live in a hot summer area, be sure to use strategies to avoid heat stress in plants.

Bees are our most important pollinators. Most are solitary bees that live independently, not the bumble bees or honey bees we are more familiar with. Bees visit flowers for the pollen or nectar, which supply the nutrients they need.

If you feel like you need a jackhammer to bust into your garden soil, you've got clay. This is a familiar garden complaint in Marin. If you want to make your clay soil more workable, you can amend it with organic material.

Be part of a wildlife corridor between islands of natural habitat. Photo: Courtesy of UC Regents Habitat gardens provide connectivity Your garden can be a place for pollinators and insects to stop and refuel as they travel through urban, suburban, and wildland areas.

Yarrow (Achillea) performs in cool coastal settings, and the flowers provide perfect landing pads for butterflies.

Landscape Plants for Sonoma County We offer a number of plant lists to help you find the right plants for each place in your garden, or the right place for that plant you couldn't resist. The selection of plants on these lists is not intended to be exhaustive. There are many more plants that can be —…

Alstroemeria aurea 'Saturne'. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Perennials are flowering plants that live longer than two seasons. Some are evergreen; others die back at the end of the flowering season and then regrow from the same roots the following year. Perennials are dependable and easy.

Build a great foundation of climate-conscious, Earth-friendly gardening principles and knowledge tailored to the needs, climate and conditions of gardens in Marin.

UC Central Sierra programming includes virtual and on-line training as well as in-person classes and workshops in Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, and Tuolumne Counties.