Butterflies have long fascinated people with their beautiful wings and whimsical flight.

Butterflies are also extremely important ecologically. Butterflies pollinate flowering plants and serve as food for other organisms, thus forming an important link in the food chain.

Butterfly populations have declined in recent decades, owing to increased pesticide use, especially herbicides; loss of fencerows; urbanization and other destruction of habitat, and loss of caterpillar host and nectar plants.

Managing your garden for butterflies can help conserve butterfly populations, as well as greatly enhance a traditional garden.

As an added bonus, butterfly gardens often attract hummingbirds.

You might want to think about adding plants this fall to start building a habitat for butterflies.

There are several things you can do to attract butterflies to your property. Because butterflies are attracted to flowers, it is easy to plant a garden that you and they can enjoy.

A butterfly-friendly garden contains adult nectar plants, such as aster, bee balm, black-eyed Susan, butterfly weed, coreopsis, cosmos, goldenrod, Joe-pye weed, marigold, phlox, purple coneflower and zinnia, as well as caterpillar host plants, such as dill, hibiscus, hollyhock, milkweed, mustard, parsley, snapdragon, spicebush and violet.

There are about 750 butterfly and skipper species in North America, and about 10 times that number of moths.

Butterflies, moths and skippers form the order of insects named Lepidoptera, meaning “scaly-winged.” The wings are covered with thousands of tiny scales, which form the spots and stripes that we see.

The life of a butterfly is marked by four vastly different stages: egg, caterpillar, pupa and adult.

The egg hatches into a caterpillar, which immediately feeds on the leaf of the plant where it has hatched. The caterpillar grows and molts, shedding its exoskeleton when that becomes too small.

After four to six molts, the caterpillar pupates, or transforms. The new stage is termed the pupa, and the covering around the caterpillar is called chrysalis, or cocoon, for moths.

Protected inside the chrysalis, many of the caterpillar’s body structures dissolve and reform into the distinctive butterfly shape. Adult butterflies of most species emerge from the chrysalis 10 to 15 days later. They unfold and dry their wings, which must harden before they can fly.

Adult butterflies feed on nectar, the sweet liquid in flowers. Adults mate during this stage, and the female deposits her eggs on an appropriate plant.

Since butterflies are cold-blooded and need to be warm to fly and feed, you should plant your garden in a sunny area sheltered from the wind. Storms and windy days can batter a butterfly to bits.

If there is no natural shelter, plant a windscreen such as spicebush or another flowering shrub that can provide both food and shelter.

Several other elements can be added to enhance a butterfly garden. Place a few rocks in sunny areas to give the butterflies a good basking surface.

Also, provide wet sand or mud. Males will often gather at wet sand patches and mud puddles. This phenomenon, called puddling, provides minerals and other nutrients that the males “gift” to females during mating.

Limit your use of insecticides and herbicides, if you use them at all. Insecticides kill beneficial insects as well as those considered a nuisance. Herbicides are damaging to butterflies because they may eliminate sources of food for caterpillars and may poison them.

“Growing Green” is contributed by Lehigh County Extension Office Staff and Master Gardeners. Information: Lehigh County Extension Office, 610-391-9840; Northampton County Extension Office, 610-813-6613.