Mosquito Repelling Plants
Hello hello, dear Readers! I hope you are enjoying these early days of June. After a bit of a heat wave, we’re back to lovely temps. We have been outside as much as possible lately. What about you? How are your gardens and window boxes coming along? My gardens are doing great-aside from the never-ending battle with chipmunks and squirrels. We’ve had some setbacks in a plot of land that we wanted to turn into a wild pollinator friendly space. We had to dig out some unruly bushes and their root systems were massive. It turns out we would need a mini excavator and then topsoil, which is more of an investment we want to make this year. Such a bummer. So we’re doing an experiment. (And by “we” I really mean “me” because my son and my next-door neighbor are not nearly as invested in this project as I am!) I will keep you posted on the project. For now, I’ll just say that it involves a lot of cardboard, a bunch of bags of organic potting soil, and as many plants as I can fit in the space! More on that another time.
All of this outside time though, enjoying the yard, and pondering the back section has reminded me that I’ve been wanting to share with all of you about some of my favorite plants to help with mosquito control! Think Mint & Lemon! It is full on mosquito season here! I load up the planters near the fire pit and planters on the porch with plants that mosquitoes do NOT love. They all have lovely aromatic oils so when we’re outside, we just rub some of the plant oil right on our skin. It makes a huge difference. These plants also happen to be incredible medicinal herbs as well! Win-win! Here are my top 3 favorites. Lemon Verbena, Lemon Balm, and Peppermint. I also love the Citronella plant in the geranium family, but I don’t work with it medicinally. I do keep a few around the yard though just for the purpose of keeping bugs away.
Lemon Verbena Aloysia citriodora This is a lovely aromatic, antibacterial, sedative, nerve relaxing plant that smells incredible. I’ve been using it a lot lately to help with puffy eyes from allergies. It can help to fight infection, is great for indigestion (most aromatic herbs are good for this!) and makes a delicious tea. This is my favorite leaf to use for a mosquito repellant. The scent lasts so long, and I also harvest this one all season to use for teas and herbal remedies throughout the winter. One of my favorite herbalists and New England gardeners is Deb Soule. I’m sure you’ve heard me mention her before. Well, I recently learned that she has a lemon verbena that is over 25 years old! How incredible is that? Especially for us New Englanders who can usually only grow it as annuals! Hers looks like a tree! She pots it up ever fall and overwinters it inside. And then in the spring, she takes it back out to the garden. You know I’m going to try this, right? I have a bunch of them all over the yard, but I potted one up in a pot that I think will be good for it for a few years and we’ll see how it does! Crossing fingers it overwinters nicely in my house!
Lemon Balm Melissa officinalis Another amazing aromatic herb, lemon balm is one of my favorite nervines. Like lemon verbena, it is a bit sour, cooling, and drying. I especially love this one because it lifts spirits and calms the heart. It is also an anti-inflammatory and a really great herb for kids. I’ve found it to be helpful at nighttime as a tea because it’s very calming, helps to reduce anxiety, and is also helpful if your little ones are prone to nightmares.
Peppermint Mentha piperita Another mint family favorite! (I say that about a lot of plants, don’t I?) This is a classic one used in insect repellant. Mice and small rodents don’t like it either. It’s a good one to have around if you’ve got a lot of little pests in addition to mosquitoes! Similar to the lemon verbena and lemon balm, it is also drying and cooling, but the neat thing about this plant is that energetically it’s cooling to begin with but then is warm. You could use spearmint here as well. There are all kind of interesting varieties too! I haven’t worked with many of them medicinally, and peppermint is the stronger choice, but for culinary herbs and beverages it’s fun to play around with the different kinds of mints! Peppermint is very relaxing, it’s antispasmodic, it’s a great digestive herb, and it’s also antibacterial and antiviral as well. This is my go-to plant for headaches and upset stomach. (One of my son’s favorites as well.) Something else interesting about peppermint is that when burned as an incense it can clear negative energy and encourage healing. I love using this as an alternative option to white sage or plants traditionally used by Native Americans.
What should you do with all of these plants? Grow them! I have found that lemon balm starts well from seed and sometimes peppermint, but I’ve had the best success with lemon verbena and peppermint by getting starts at a local farm or nursery. Plant them strategically around your yard or on your porch, or in a window box! You can rub the plant oils right onto your skin. You can make tea with these plants-they taste amazing together! I like to take a few leaves of each, rinse them off, and make either a sun tea or a quicker hot infusion with them. Harvest and dry them as you can to use later in the year as well! There are many other plants that have similar mosquito repelling properties, like lemongrass. I haven’t been able to find any locally yet this season, but I’m on the lookout for it! It grows as an annual here and is a delicious culinary herb. Are there any bug repelling plants that you use that I haven’t mentioned? Please let me know! I’d love to hear from you! I hope you’ll grow some of these! They are so pretty, versatile, and beneficial! Happy growing, my dears!
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*This is for educational purposes only and has not been evaluated by the FDA. This is not intended to diagnose, treat, prescribe, or cure.