As much as we love summer, it does have annoying mosquitos. I am sharing 10 Plants to Keep Mosquitos Away! Help repel mosquitos by filling your garden with as many plants that keep mosquitos away and hopefully, you’ll have a mosquito-free yard! Peppermint as shown here, is a great mosquito repellent. Affiliate links for products listed are for your convenience only. This costs you nothing extra. If you happen to purchase anything as a result of clicking, TCL will receive a small percentage. Thank you for your support. This allows me to continue to offer you free content.
If you want to control mosquitos so you can cut down or eliminate using dangerous poisons look no further than nature to do so. As you choose which plants to use, consider placement, putting them where you are more likely to hang out such as doorways, near windows and near outdoor seating.
A lot of the plants do double duty as they’re actually edible and can be used in culinary dishes such as lavender in ice-cream or basil and garlic in your marinara sauce. Plus they look interesting and aren’t usually that hard to grow or take care of. I have many of these planted in the yard or in flower pots.
Basil – This is one of 10 plants to keep mosquitos away. You can make your own natural mosquito repellent with dried basil very easily. Simply steep a cup of dried basil in 1/2 cup of filtered boiling water, kind of like you would make tea. In fact, you can use a tea ball to help make this a neater job. Add in a little basil essential oil and about 1/2 cup of some sort of alcohol that is safe for the skin.
Catnip – There are some studies that show that catnip oil is better at repelling mosquitoes than harsh chemical insect repellants. If this is true, you should try it. You can buy it already made catnip oil repellent or make your own catnip mosquito repellent. It works on other types of pests too.
Citronella – This lemony plant is the most popular known plant to help keep mosquitos away. You’ve likely seen citronella candles that work too, but why not just plant this pretty grass-like plant. You should plant it in large containers that can be easily protected during frost and place strategically around when guests are visiting.
Garlic – The bulb of the garlic plant’s amino acid make up coverts to a substance called allicin once you crush it, blend it or chop it. You can actually blend the bulbs with water and water other plants and foliage (and humans) with it to help repel insects.
Geranium — Plant scented citronella geraniums to help control mosquitos in pots to put around your patio and in areas that you and your guests might want to sit without being bothered by mosquitos.
Lavender – Growing lavender is fun and has many uses including as a mosquito repellent and it’s a lot more plant to smell than some of the other options. If you don’t want to grow it you can purchase lavender soaps, essential oils, and lotions to use as a mosquito repellent.
Lemon Balm – This also smells a lot better than citronella or garlic and works well too. All you have to do is take the leaves and crush them and rub them on your body where the skin will be exposed.
Marigolds – Most people who grow vegetables tend to plant marigolds within, and for good reason. These magical flowers help banish many types of insects including mosquitoes. Of course, the smell is usually not that pleasant to humans either, but they’re not hard to look at or grow.
Peppermint – This delicious tasting and smelling plant is a great mosquito repellent. Bugs hate the smell and the flavor of them. You can either crush up the leaves or rub on skin or you can use an essential oil infused lotion. Thankfully, peppermint is easy to grow because you’ll want to use it for mosquito repellent and for your mojitos.
Rosemary – You can boil a cup of dried rosemary in a quart of filtered water for 20 minutes, and then strain into another quart of filtered water. Pour into individual spray bottles, to use when going outside where mosquitoes might be. Be sure to store unused portion in the fridge.
These 10 plants to keep mosquitos away are much better to use than chemical bug compounds that contain DEET which is not only bad for you but the environment.