With the rise of mosquito transmitted diseases like West Nile, Dengue Fever and the Zika virus, you may want to do more to repel mosquitoes from your yard.

Tips for Repelling Mosquitoes in Your Yard

• Eliminate any standing water after storms.
• Treat water in birdbaths, rain barrels or ponds with mosquito dunks which kill the larvae that hatch in the water.
• Attract bats to your yard with bat boxes and plants that bats prefer.
• Use citronella scented oils.
• Plant mosquito repellent plants.
• Avoid wearing dark clothing.
• Use mosquito repellent sunscreen.
• Apply lavender oil to your skin as a natural repellent.
• Use Deet or Permethrin based products.

Repelling Mosquitoes with Plants

Plants for repelling mosquitoes are best planted around seating areas outside like patios and porches. While enjoying the outdoors, crush a few leaves from these plants to release the repellent oils into the air or even rub the leaves on your skin.

Our favorite repellant plants: basil, bee balm, eucalyptus, catmint/catnip, cedar, cloves, ageratum, garlic, lavender, lemon balm, lemon grass, lemon scented geranium, lemon thyme, lemon verbena, Mexican marigold, mint, artemesia, rosemary and tansy.

Additional Mosquito Facts

• Considered the most dangerous ‘animal’, killing over 1 million people annually.
• They spend the first 10 days of life in the water.
• Females can lay 300 eggs three times in their lives.
• There are 200 species in the US with the least number in New Hampshire and the most in Texas, California, and Florida.
• Mosquitoes bite with a serrated proboscis, not teeth.
• They can smell our breath.
• They can drink 3x their weight in blood.
• Best natural predators are fish and dragonflies which eat the larvae in the water.

Find plants to repel mosquitoes in our retail greenhouses, here at Ashcombe Farm & Greenhouses.