Natural Insect Repellent Flowers List - Grow Flowers/Vegetable Garden

Grow a Lush Garden with Insect Repelling Flowers

If you find a vegetable gardener buying an extra flat of annual marigolds, don’t be taken by surprise! This is a common practice and chances are they will be using them for keeping those prized tomatoes in their garden away from insect attacks. Nowadays, even perennial flowers have found a place in the field of pest control.

Insect repelling flowers typically work by producing scents that are distasteful for most predatory insects. Often, they also fill the air with disorienting compounds that act as a kind of olfactory camouflage for the neighboring plants. Here is a look at some of the most popular flowers that you can grow in your garden to help keep the insects at bay and allow your garden to grow lush and strong.

Lavender

Lavender acts as a repellant for mosquitoes, moths, fleas, and flies. It has been in use for centuries to add a pleasant, sweet fragrance to the home, particularly in clothing drawers. Though its fragrance is well loved by humans, it is one of the most hated scents for flies, mosquitoes, and other similar unwanted pests and insects. Tied bouquets of lavender placed in your home can help you keep flies outdoors, and when planted in sunny areas of the garden, lavender can help in keeping those areas free from pests.

Lavender oil extract is also a good choice as a mosquito repellent and can be applied onto the skin before going into the garden. It offers additional benefits by nourishing the skin and producing a calming effect that can help reduce anxiety and stress.

Alliums

Plants that are part of the allium family, such as the allium giganteum,are considered to be broad-spectrum natural insecticides. They help in repelling numerous insects, including cabbage worms, carrot flies, aphids, and slugs, which tend to plague vegetable gardens. Moreover, certain plants, such as carrots, kohlrabi, broccoli, cabbage, potatoes, peppers, and tomatoes find it highly beneficial to grow in close proximity to alliums. Shallots, leeks, garlic, chives, and other similar smaller growing herbs all come under the category of alliums.

Marigolds

Various types of marigolds produce scents that act as repellants for rabbits, mosquitoes, and aphids. Marigold roots are very popular among farmers since they help in repelling nematodes, though the plants need to be grown for a couple of years before their effects start to take shape.

Marigolds can be grown interspersed over the entire area of the vegetable garden, or mixed in along the borders of flowerbeds. Though they can be grown with ease in sunny locations, powdery mildew and gray mold tend to affect their growth.

Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums are excellent repellants for harlequin bugs, fleas, lice, silverfish, ticks, ants, and roaches, among a whole host of other unwanted insects. They contain an ingredient called pyrethrum, which makes them highly effective as a companion plant in your garden to help keep insects at bay.

The ingredient, pyrethrum, has been found to kill insects that can fly and jump, thus making it one of the most popular ingredients for use in aerosol sprays and garden insecticides. Though it can be used for making insecticidal sprays, pyrethrum tends to have a carcinogenic effect on the human system and should be handled with extreme care. Having a good knowledge of the risks involved with its usage can come in very handy.

Geraniums, narcissus, and common lantanas are among the many other flowers that you can add to your garden to help keep some of the most common insects and pests off the premises.

Conclusion

While these flowers repel unwanted insects and pests, some of them also act as a beacon for beneficial insects that help in pollinating and sustaining the healthy growth of your plants. The end result is that you get to enjoy a lush, healthy garden with no pesky pests.