The weather is nice, you love being out in the yard, but mosquitoes are sucking the fun out of your day. Not everyone is comfortable dousing their family in chemicals like DEET. Fortunately, you can integrate plants and other features into your landscape that can effectively repel these pests.

Before plants can do their job, the source of the mosquitoes in your yard must be eliminated. Make sure all standing water is dumped out and containers that may collect water in the future are turned over.

If you have fountains, ponds, or other water features in your yard, use mosquito dunkers to kill them at the source. If you want a more permanent solution, consider using Mosquito Eating Fish to eliminate them at the source. Simply putting goldfish in your fountain or pond has also been found to be an effective solution.

Once mosquitoes are eliminated at the source, it’s time to stop them from coming in your yard from other locations. This can be achieved by selecting the right plants. Here are a few plants that will do the trick:

Lemon GrassHerbs and Flowers

  • Basil
  • Lavender
  • Rosemary
  • Lemon Thyme
  • Catnip
  • Ageratum
  • Marigolds
  • Bee Balm

Grass

  • Citronella
  • Lemon Grass

Trees

  • Clove
  • Tea Tree
  • Cadaga Tree

Although most mosquito repelling plants must be crushed in order to release their scents, the plants mentioned in this post are powerful enough to stop mosquitoes with no extra work.