21. Penny Royal
Penny Royal is a bush with beautiful round purple blooms with a highly potent scent; which is why it is a very effective insect repellent. Fresh cuttings can be cut and placed around the home as a decoration that doubles as a very strong mosquito repellent. Penny royal is ideal for planting at the end of your vegetable garden to protect your crop from pests. The downside to this plant is that it is highly toxic and should not be ingested by people or animals.
22. Peppermint
Peppermint is yet another variety of mint that is an excellent mosquito repellent. This form of mint is identified by its more elongated leaves and grows rapidly. Its natural aroma as it grows repels mosquitoes so it is ideal for planting at the perimeter of you garden or in a window box. The leaves can also be pressed an used as an oil.
23. Pineapple Weed
Pineapple weed is a species of wild chamomile that you might consider saving the next time you weed your garden. The fronds and round yellow buds can be dried and rubbed onto clothing to keep mosquitoes away from you precious skin. Fresh pineapple weed can even be plucked fresh from the plant and rubbed on your skin. Alternatively dried bunches can be hung around the house in the areas that are the most likely to attract insects.
24. Pitcher Plant
Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants that feed on insects, including mosquitoes. The vase like blooms have a sweet smelling liquid at the bottom; which lures in the mosquitoes inside and then digests them. These delicate plants make a beautiful decoration for an outdoor seating area that allows you to relax in peace.
25. Pyrethrum
These white daisy like flowers may appear innocent but they are hiding behind their beautiful facade. They are in fact a highly toxic plant that is harvested almost exclusively for their insect repelling properties. Pyrethrum can be found as a natural ingredient in organic insecticides.
26. Rosemary
Rosemary is a fragrant edible herb with beautiful purple blooms. This evergreen bush wards off mosquitoes naturally with its a strong aroma. Planting this around your garden will provide you with delicious fresh herbs that pair well with lamb and keep the mosquitoes away while you eat it. The woody leaves can be pressed into an oil and used for aromatherapy.
27. Snowbrush
Snowbush is fluffy white weed that flowers in the summer time. The blooms produce a sticky resin that has a sweet balsam aroma that mosquitoes find repulsive. It is very easily propagated, as most weeds are, so they are a great addition to your border shrubbery to keep the buzzing insects off your property.
28. Sweet Fern
Sweet ferns are a small bushy shrub with a sweet fragrance that acts as a natural mosquito repellent. The most effective way to release the plants repellent properties is as a smudge stick. You can make your own smudge stick at home by drying out fronds of sweet fern, tying them together in a bundle and lighting it until it releases a fragrant smoke. Walk the smoke through your home to create a lingering aroma that will keep mosquitoes away for hours.
29. Tansy
Tansy is a beautiful plant with bright yellow round blooms that is incredibly easy to grow. The most effective way to use this plant is to dry the leaves and infuse it into water for a potent insect repellent spray. If you have animals be wary of this plant growing in your garden or in your fields as it can be toxic when consumed in large quantities.
30. Tea Tree
Tea tree is a plant often found in skin care for its efficacy at healing blemishes, it is this property that makes tea tree oil an effective treatment for mosquito bites. The treatment can be applied as an oil or freshly plucked from the bush and rubbed onto the skin Its distinctive scent is too strong for many insects to approach so planting this in your garden could prevent the mosquitos from getting near you entirely. The leaf itself is very toxic so keep it out of reach of children and animals.
31. Thyme
This delicious herb may pair well with chicken but you know what it doesn’t go well with? You guessed it, mosquitoes. Thyme is great to have growing in your garden not only for cooking and its beautiful purple flowers but also for the fact that merely planting this in your herb box is enough to repel the mosquitoes. The bright aroma released by this plant is fragrant to humans but toxic to many insects. Besides its fresh form thyme can be used as cutting, dried in sachets or as an oil for a to take advantage of its potent mosquito repellent qualities.
32. Vanilla
Although vanilla may be mouth-watering scent for us, like many herbs, mosquitoes are not a fan. The leaves have been used as a natural mosquito repellent by indigenous tribes for hundreds of years; which speaks to its efficacy. The fresh leaves can be rubbed directly onto the skin to keep the buzzing pests at bay, however vanilla plants only grow in tropical climates so if you don’t have live in these humid areas you can use a dried alternative. The dried leaves can be bundled together and used as a smudge stick in the same way as sweet fern.
33. Wormwood
Wormwood is not just a potion ingredient from Harry Potter, unless those potions purpose was to repel mosquitoes! The bush’s large sprayed leaves produce resinous particles that give off a pungent aroma that keeps mosquitos far away. This bush grows really easily so its ideal to have in your garden for its scent and easy access to the magical leaves. The fresh leaves can be crushed and distributed around the home or outdoor areas to use its properties to its best advantage.
34. Lemon Geranium
This lemon scented geranium is an even more potent version of the other species due to the fact that it contains the chemical citronellax. This is the same chemical found in citronella, which, as we mentioned in point 7, is a very effective mosquito repellent. It can be used in all the same ways as the geranium mentioned previous in point 13.
Conclusion
As usual nature has swooped in to save the day once more and keep those pesky mosquitoes away in a 100% natural way. Most of these plants come with other uses too from making your garden look more lush, to aromatherapy and vibrant to delicious cooking ingredients. They can even be planted near your vegetable garden to protect them from a wide variety of pests.
You can choose how you wish to use these highly adaptable plants to suit you. Fresh cuttings, dried, aromatherapy oils, smudge sticks or just growing the plants themselves; you have a wide variety of choices for how to makes these plants work for you and keep your home mosquito free.
So before next summer rolls around why try into incorporating some of these magical plants that repel mosquitoes to your garden so you can leave the chemicals locked in your bathroom cabinet!
