Along with beautiful foliage, summer can also bring along less than desirable bugs and small animals. If enjoying your garden but not swatting away pests sounds good to you, check out the list below for some great plants to incorporate into your summer landscaping.
Petunias
This colorful crew is ideal for warding off bugs, beetles, and aphids.
Marigolds
These sun-worshiping flowers keep many of the same pests away that petunias do but they also can help with bothersome mosquitoes.
Chrysanthemums
This powerhouse flower is used in numerous ways both organically and in commercial repellent products.
Basil
Before you pair these delicious leaves with your prize-winning tomatoes and hearty slices of mozzarella, basil’s oily leaves can help keep flies and mosquitoes away.
Rosemary
Another soldier in the war against mosquitoes, this beautiful plant helps with perfect roasted potatoes as well as fighting off summer pests.
Lavender
Lavender is an incredibly comforting scent that often brings rest to many but gratefully, flies, moths, and mosquitos think the smell is rancid.
Mint
The perfect garnish for a summer mojito, mint can help keep insects from biting. If you plant this outside of a pot, do keep an eye on it as it will spread like crazy.
Lemongrass
Nothing smells like a summer night more than citronella! That great oil is found in the sun-loving lemongrass. Weave it around the evening bonfire site for help with mosquitos.
Garlic
Oh, the power of garlic! From adding the right flavor to a recipe to helping with ear infections, garlic is awesome. This jack-of-all-trades is fantastic in the garden as well – deterring moths, beetles, snails, etc.
If you want to figure out a beautiful way to bring these plants into your gardening plans, we would love to chat with you and even show you some of these in our greenhouse!
If you want to hear more gardening favorites from our staff or to learn more about what is happening at our Emerald City, please sign up to join our email list.
