10 Insect Repelling Plants

10 Insect Repelling Plants

A great list of insect repelling plants that you can use in and around your house to help keep mosquitoes and other insect pests away.  They vary in strength, but all of them work great to plant in your landscaping area.

1. Basil

   Repels mosquitoes & flies. The intense scent and oil in basil seem to have repellent properties for many varieties of flies.

2. Bee Balm

   Bee Balm is a pretty easy plant to grow and hard to kill. It can grow to about 3 feet high and wide, has pretty flowers that butterflies love. The reason these and other fragrant flowers repel mosquitoes is because they mask the smells that would normally draw the mosquitoes. It is also used as an antiseptic and to treat colds.

3. African or French Marigolds

   Marigolds are great companion plants, meaning that they are great in close proximity for keeping bugs away from people and other plants you want to protect.

4. Floss Flowers

   Annual, bees and butterflies love it. It emits a smell called coumarin that mosquitoes hate.

5. Catnip

   Member of the mint family and a perennial. Though it attracts cats, it is known for repelling mosquitoes and cockroaches in a major way. this is one of the strongest mosquito repelling plants.

6. PennyRoyal

   Great as a ground cover, but do not ingest. I do not have it because my kids are used to tasting our plants. It is also toxic for animals. People talk about crushing and rubbing the leaves over their skin and pet’s fur. This is probably ok, and is effective, but your body has to deal with the poison. If you don’t have kids or animals, have at it. But it is used as a poison, so be careful.

7. Lavender

   Smells great. Wonderful in beauty products, soaps, air fresheners, therapeutic and medicinal purposes. Some people use it in cupboards or attics to repel moths instead of mothballs.

8. Rosemary

   Rosemary is great in food and soaps as well as an insect repellent. It makes a great facial toner. It likes it hot, so it will not grow as a perennial except in zones 7 and higher.

9. Lemon Grass

   Lemon Grass Perennial only in zones 11-8. The rest of us bring it indoors in the winter and hope it lives. It grows very fast and is great in cooking and soaps. It dries well. It is a mild astringent, so many people will use it in homemade deodorant so they sweat less (just make sure you aren’t allergic to it first. You don’t want a rash there-ouch)

10. Geranium

    Geranium is in the citronella family. Like Pennyroyal it can be poisonous if ingested, but it is commonly used in pots around America.

The plants can be used for cooking, in soaps, in beauty products, skin toners or deodorants, and for medicinal purposes.

See Also: List of Edible Plants for Landscaping