With warmer weather comes backyard patio entertaining, BBQs with friend, and… bugs! Check out our top 10 list of plants, herbs, and flowers to add to your backyard oasis this summer that will not only look and smell great but will help keep those pesky mosquitos and annoying bugs at bay.
1. Lavender
Not only does lavender smell and look beautiful in any garden or yard, but it also does great in the summer sun. Best of all it helps repel mosquitos, flies, fleas, and other unwanted bugs. Bonus: Lavender attracts beneficial pollinators like bumblebees.
2. Mint
Adding mint to your flowerpots can make your backyard smell amazing and repel mosquitoes. Bonus: You’ll also have a fresh herb on hand to spruce up summer cocktails or for creating refreshing spa water.
3. Catnip
Cats may love it, but bugs and insects do not. Add it to flowerpots or your garden to repel flea beetles, aphids, Japanese beetles, squash bugs, ants, and more. Bonus: Dry some and put it in a satchel in your kitchen to deter summer ants, or just entertain your cat.
4. Marigolds
Marigolds are well-known for repelling unwanted bugs and insects like mosquitoes, and attracting good ones like ladybugs that kill aphids. They can be added to pots or directly into your flower garden.
5. Petunias
These beautiful annuals are a great addition to pots and flower gardens, and they repel aphids among other bugs.
6. Lemongrass
This ornamental grass contains natural citronellal that not only smells great but helps repel mosquitoes. Add it to a pot or directly into the ground in a well-drained, sunny area of your yard.
7. Basil
Another delicious herb that wards off pesky bugs like the flea beetle, mosquitoes, and cabbage webworm. Bonus: Basil can be planted alongside tomatoes to enhance their flavor.
8. Rosemary
This versatile herb is tasty to humans, but not so tasty to many insects. It repels slugs, beetles, mosquitoes, and more and will look great in any pot or straight into your garden.
9. Lemon Thyme
This hardy herb contains citronellal and can be used as a natural repellent once the leaves are crushed. Just cut off some stems and rub the leaves in your hands.
10. Nasturtiums
These edible plants are said to repel whiteflies, squash bugs, aphids, beetles, and more. Plant them in your vegetable garden or among other flowers as this will help protect nearby plants against harmful insects. You can sow nasturtium seeds directly into the soil in April or May, or until as late as July or if you didn’t get an early start just purchase young plants at your local nursery.
