Eco Friendly Insect Repellent Plants

These are not the carnivorous plants like the Venus Fly Trap that catch and eat insects. These are plants that insects cannot stand to be around. Plant them in the right way in your garden and you can cut back on, or even eliminate entirely, the use of pesticides. Pesticides get absorbed into the soil, get washed away to other locations and can even seep into the ground water. The less they are used, the better off everyone is.

Borghese Gardens is an on line source for insect repellent plants. They sell seeds at very reasonable prices. Some of their choices are the Kentucky Coffee Tree. Bruise some of the leaves and sprinkle them with sweet water and it will not only attract fleas, but kill them off as well. It usually grows into a large tree, but it can be trained to grow in a container. It is a native of the mid west and it is toxic to animals. Plant lemon basil with your tomato plants and you get a double benefit. It makes the tomatoes taste better and keep white flies away.

Other insect repelling plants are catnip and/or Rosemary for repelling mosquitoes, marigolds for repelling mosquitoes as well as vegetable eating insects and aphids. A basil plant will keep flies away, a peppermint plant will keep ants and mice away. If you have a problem with tomato worms, plant borage or calendula. Calendula will also work on asparagus beetles. Chrysanthemums and cosmos work against the Mexican Beetle. Dandelion dead nettle and flax will repel the potato beetle and cabbage worms and red spider mites cannot stand geraniums. Nasturniums are a popular garden flower that keeps white flies, squash bugs, the striped pumpkin beetle and the wooly aphid from making a meal out of your garden.

There are more. There are actually a lot of insect repellent plants, some that grow in just about any part of the country. Some more are oregano for keeping cabbage butterflies and cucumber beetles at bay. Parsley is very unappetising to beetles and sage works well against bean beetles, cabbage moths, carrot flies and slugs and sunflowers are the enemy of the armyworm.

Many of these insect repellent plants can be planted indoors as well as outdoors. Keep some in pots in the kitchen, especially the herbs. You can have them handy when you need them for cooking and the little critters will stay outside. They are worth a try. The worse that can happen is you have another plant or two to take care of.