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Pollinators: Cultivating Resilient and Thriving Gardens

This is a list of Evergreen Thumb episodes related to Pollinators. WSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers teach ways to help native bees and other pollinators thrive in home and community landscapes.

Pollination is an essential ecological survival function. Almost 80% of food-producing plants require pollination by animals like bees. One of every 4 bites of food we eat requires a pollinator. Declines in insect pollinators worldwide present a challenge for food security. It’s not just food that we need pollinators for. Pollination is also required for the reproduction of flowering plants that help prevent erosion, filter water, sequester carbon, and add oxygen to the atmosphere. 90% of wild plants are pollinated by bees and according to the Center for Biological Diversity, more than half of the native bee species are declining, nearly 1 in 4 is imperiled and 40% of insect pollinators are highly threatened.