Win Summer with These Mosquito Repellant Plants

Even if it didn’t repel mosquitoes, you’d be happy to have floss flower in your garden, with its beautiful blue blooms and butterfly-attracting properties. But it does keep insects away--floss flower naturally produces coumarin, a chemical compound found in some commercial bug sprays.

This citrusy-smelling cousin to the mint family is traditionally used to help with digestion, anxiety, and…repelling mosquitoes. Lemon balm produces citronellal, just like what’s found in bug-repellant citronella candles. Lemon balm works best if you crush leaves and apply them directly to exposed skin. Just one word of caution: Like mint, lemon balm can overtake a garden bed, so it’s best planted in a container.

Credit nepetalactone, an essential oil found in catnip, with being the secret ingredient that mosquitoes hate. Catnip is a member of the resourceful mint family, and consequently almost easier to grow than kill. Think about keeping it corralled in a container. (And no, you won’t trade bug infestation for feline invasion if you grow it in your garden—cats like their ’nip dried, and generally leave live plants alone.) If you want to take the time, you can even create a DIY natural mosquito repellant out of the plant. Strip some leaves and steep them in either boiling water or hot oil for about 10 minutes. When the liquid cools, strain and spray on exposed skin.

Cheerful orange marigolds naturally contain pyrethrum, a chemical often synthesized for use in commercial insect repellants. All you need to do to discourage mosquitoes (and some tomato-eating insects, too) is place pots of them strategically around your yard—mosquitoes just don’t like the way they smell. (Candidly, not all people like that wet grass scent, either. Be sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before you go to the trouble of planting.)

Basil is easy to grow and is of course eminently edible. And if you need another reason to plant it in your backyard, consider the fact that the glorious smell that a sun-warmed basil plant emits is absolutely repulsive to mosquitoes. Some say that for extra effect you can rub broken leaves on your skin or dry fronds and burn them like incense—but the jury’s still out on these methods and they’d put a dent in your harvest for pesto.

Studies suggest that essential oil is the very best use of lavender for repelling mosquitoes. But for an extra level of protection, having living plants in your garden helps. You can also dry lavender and make sachets out of the leaves and flowers, or rub fresh leaves on your exposed skin—it leaves you smelling like you used fancy soap.

Attractive, aromatic, and edible, rosemary hardly needs more on its resume, but it has mosquito-fighting properties as well. Boil sprigs like tea and spray the herb water on yourself to keep insects away while you’re outside, or make your own rosemary oil by infusing some needle-like leaves in light oil in a jar for about two weeks. Rosemary plants grow well upright in pots, and also can be used as a hedge in your landscaping scheme.

As much as we love the pungent herbal scent of sage, mosquitoes hate it. Just having it in the garden seems to keep mosquito numbers down, and if you bundle stalks into smudge sticks and leave them around outdoor seating areas, that works even better. Best of all, consider tossing bundles of sage into a roaring firepit during your next outdoor gathering. You can use fresh or dried sage; either one will produce smoke that is both sweet-smelling and mosquito-repelling. (Fresh sage will smoke a little more.)

Peppermint, with its pleasant aroma, is a great candidate for turning into bug spray by steeping the leaves in water or infusing in oil. If you haven’t planned ahead, you can also rub broken leaves directly on your skin. And, in the worst-case scenario, if a mosquito does get through, peppermint oil is a time-honored folk remedy for itchy skin. Note that peppermint, like all mints, is borderline invasive, so keep it in a container or an isolated patch of garden (an area contained by pavers, for example).

Opinion is divided as to whether or not this plant produces true citronellal, and while some gardeners swear by it, others say it has no actual mosquito-repelling properties. Why has no one bothered to get to the bottom of the mystery? Because the citronella variety of geranium makes such a great garden plant in any case. The gentlest brush of the leaves produces a strong citrus scent and the five-petaled pink flowers are blotched with a purple pattern that makes them look almost like orchids.  Plant them along garden paths where they’re likely to get rustled and hope for the best.