Make Your Garden Mosquito Proof With These 25 Stunning Plants

Summer is full of joys – and a pain in the neck, or mainly ankles: mosquitoes! Their bites are annoying, insistent, and, in some areas, even dangerous for your health. Thankfully, there are many plants that repel them and keep them at bay, and quite a few of these are decorative as well. Flowering or with amazing leaves, they all tend to have one thing in common: a strong aroma.

While these plants’ smell can be an added bonus to your garden or indoor spaces, it is a real repellent for blood-thirsty mosquitoes; they are a real put-off. Ironically, they don’t like nice fragrances (as well as some that are less pleasant for us too, like garlic – like vampires indeed!)

If you are preparing your home and garden for the mosquito invasion to come in summer, check out the best and most beautiful 25 plant varieties that will save you from many a bite!

A Few Tips on How to Place Plants That Repel Mosquitoes

We are going to meet 25 beautiful (and often fragrant) plants that you can grow to keep mosquitoes away from yourself and your family, but first, a few ideas on where to position them:

• On window sills! This is a must to keep mosquitoes out of your home…
• Near doors and entrances. You don’t want mosquitoes to follow you indoors when you get back from work…
• In hanging baskets. Do use them to stop mosquitoes higher up, above your head. Especially on balconies and terraces.
• In sitting and lingering places in your garden. Do you have a barbecue corner? That’s a magnet for mosquitoes and a place where you spend long periods on summer nights. A bench? An outdoor patio? All these places need to be protected.
• On the sides of paths. Mosquitoes like to bite ankles, and you will use paths regularly, so…
• In and around your vegetable garden. You don’t want to get bitten while you pick your tomatoes and zucchini.

So, now you know where to place them, let’s start with a real star of gardens, perfumes, dreams…

1. Lavender (Lavandula spp.)

Lavender has the most relaxing and soothing fragrance for us, but it really irritates mosquitoes. Strange, because its spikes of small but nectar rich flowers attract loads of pollinators… Maybe it’s because the heavenly and heady perfume of this strong, drought tolerant and long blooming shrub confuses them? In the end, they are after blood, not a nice-smelling bouquet?

While we cannot read mosquitoes’ minds, we do know that lavender is a real repellent for them. Use it in borders, hedges, near your house and to protect your family, and the small French variety (Lavandula stoechas), though less fragrant than the English one (Lavandula angustifolia) will fit into small containers, and it has larger flowers.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9 (Lavandula angustifolia) and USDA zones 7 to 10 (Lavandula stoechas)
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: summer to early fall.
• Watering needs: moderate, drought tolerant.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, poor to medium fertile loam, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

2. Giant Allium (Allium giganteum)

There must be something that links mosquitoes, leeches and vampires: they all hate the smell of garlic! While you can also grow any normal edible variety in your backyard, there’s a more showy, decorative option for your front garden and containers: giant allium. While its smell is not too strong for us, these little insects sense it much more than we do, so they keep away.

Considering its pink, purplish, blue or white spherical clusters of star shaped flowers that can reach 6 inches wide (15 cm) and tower 4 feet into the air (1.2 meters), you can understand why mosquitoes are scared of them!

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 8.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: late spring to early summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, medium fertile loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

3. Creeping Thyme (Thymus serpyllum)

Keep mosquitoes away from your ankles, or your children playing on the floor, with stunning, generous, massive blooming creeping thyme! Ideal as ground cover, for edging, on the sides of paths, in rock gardens, but also in containers, this close relative of the herb we use in our kitchens will deter these annoying insects from your outdoor or indoor spaces.

Easy to grow, it forms a blooming carpet of color for months, and then, the aromatic little leaves will still grace your garden all year round, and scare off mosquitoes till the end of the warm season, when they disappear…

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: late spring to early summer.
• Watering needs: moderate, drought tolerant.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, poor to medium fertile loam, chalk or sand based soil with pH from neutral to mildly alkaline.

4. Citronella Grass (Cymbopogon nardus)

A stunning decorative grass, citronella grass forms very dense clumps of blade shaped leaves that last through the season and, the good news is that they have a strong citrus-like fragrance, refreshing for us, but loathsome to mosquitoes. It is ideal at the borders of lawns, near patios and in sunny spots, and to protect you and your family in areas of your garden where you spend a long time.

Next to your barbeque area, it can also lower the smell of cooked meat…

• Hardiness: USDA zones 9 to 11.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: summer.
• Watering needs: moderate, drought tolerant.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, fertile loam based soil with pH from slightly acidic to mildly alkaline.

5. Marigold (Tagetes spp.)

Marigolds are a classic when it comes to pest control. They scare off most pests, including blood-thirsty mosquitoes! They will also bloom all through the season as long as you deadhead the spent flowers, and they are small enough to fit within your veggies, in flower beds, or, of course, in containers.

So, keep your garden and window sills packed with flowers, fine foliage and warm, sunny colors, but free from mosquitoes by growing marigolds, they are cheap, and from seed even cheaper!

• Hardiness: USDA zones 2 to 11 (annual).
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: mid-spring to fall.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, average fertile loam, clay or sand based soil with pH mildly acidic to mildly alkaline

6. Geranium (Pelargonium spp.)

Geraniums have a strong smell, which, most of us, find almost sickening. So do mosquitoes! That’s why it is a classic flowering perennial you will find on window sills all over the Alps, flowering massively with strong and brilliant colors for years… They give you the best of two worlds.

Easy to grow and propagate, geraniums also have broad, decorative leaves, some varieties (called “zonal”) elegantly variegated, and they are best grown in containers to obtain big blooms (not in flower beds…)

• Hardiness: USDA zones 9 to 11 (winterize them in colder regions).
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, average fertile loam or sand based soil with pH from neutral to mildly alkaline.

7. Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)

Tansy will give you a mound of yellow flowers from July to September, and its herbaceous fragrance, with rosemary hints, is a real deterrent for mosquitoes. Growing up to 40 feet tall, it is ideal for natural looking borders, cottage garden and other informal styles.

It is very easy to grow, low maintenance and it looks great in clumps; why not, you could also grow it in your kitchen garden to keep mosquitoes away and add some color.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 8.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: mid-summer to early fall.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, average fertile loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

8. Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium)

A close relative to common mint or peppermint, pennyroyal has a similar aroma, but with strong herbaceous overtones, and, of course, mosquitoes don’t like it. However, unlike other members of its family, it is not edible and it is mainly grown for the round clusters of lavender-purple flowers that grow in succession on the rising stems in summer, when these insects are most active.

It is small enough to fit in containers, and its wild look makes it ideal for informal beds or border fronts. You could grow it in your vegetable garden, but don’t confuse it with normal mint and harvest it by mistake.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 6 to 9, grown as an annual elsewhere.
• Light requirements: full Sun to part shade.
• Bloom time: late summer.
• Watering needs: moderate to high.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, fertile loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

9. Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum spp.)

The national flower of Japan, the generous flowering chrysanthemum, contains pyrethrins, a group of chemical substances that are literally toxic to mosquitoes. And because they have a great sense of smell, these perennials will literally scare them off. The finely cut and dense leaves will add texture to your garden, and then, the massive floral display in all those colors!

Chrysanthemums will blossom at the end of the “mosquito season”, but they will scare them off just with their leaves, and you can easily grow them in containers, beds, or use them as cut flowers.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: late summer to fall.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, fertile loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

10. Sweet Annie (Artemisia annua)

Growing wild in many warm countries, sweet Annie has made it into the scientific literature because it looks like it can be used not to prevent, but cure cancer! Unfortunately for mosquitoes, they can’t stand its sweetish but pungent fragrance. Which is good for us, because you can enjoy their golden yellow, daisy-like flowers, finely cut foliage and natural looking presence without getting bitten.

Great in wild meadows, borders or tall beds, sweet Annie could also fit into large containers. Or why not grow it in your vegetable garden? Just keep it informal and it will keep your green space beautiful and mosquito free!

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 11.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, average fertile loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

11. Lemon Balm(Melissa officinalis)

Lemon balm is mainly used to add flavor to our dishes, especially in Oriental cuisine, but have you ever seen how beautiful the tufts of blade-like, aromatic leaves are? While you can grow this plant in your vegetable garden, it also fits into containers, being only 2 feet tall maximum (60 cm), and in flower beds. Its citrusy smell will scare off mosquitoes, of course, because they don’t like condiments with their blood meals…

If you let it blossom, lemon balm will also give you arching, plume like clusters of purplish flowers to embellish your garden or containers.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 7.
• Light requirements: full Sun to part shade.
• Bloom time: summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, fertile loam, clay chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

12. Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.)

If you have a large garden, maybe you could grow a eucalyptus tree, as, depending on the species, it can grow to 50 feet tall (15 meters). However, now there are dwarf varieties that only reach 10 feet (3.0 meters) – so, suitable for smaller spaces too. In any case, it will keep mosquitoes very far away, as they can smell its super-powerful fragrance from a long distance!

Unfortunately, it will also keep your flowers or any other plants away, at least from under its crown and where its leaves drop, as nothing can grow under it. Still, you will have a good, shady place to enjoy your summer while fully protected from mosquitoes!
 These trees can grow 10–50 feet tall. Their leaves release a strong scent that mosquitoes dislike.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 8 to 11.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: deep, well-drained, poor to medium fertile loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral.

13. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

Rosemary is not only a great herb, generous, fragrant and despised by mosquitoes (no condiments, as we said), it is also a very beautiful shrub. Its glossy needle-like leaves will add texture to your garden, and it will bloom very early in the season, and for long, with loads of violet purple flowers that attract lots of pollinators. And have you ever seen the trailing variety? Rosmarinus officinalis recumbens is often grown as a decorative variety (though I find it also has the best flavor of all!)

Small enough to grow in containers, you can equally grow rosemary in your decorative or vegetable garden and keep those thirsty tiny insects away:

• Hardiness: USDA zones 6 to 10.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: late winter to early spring.
• Watering needs: moderate, drought tolerant.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, poor to medium fertile loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

14. Borage (Borago officinalis)

Growing up to 2 feet tall (60 cm), or more in hot regions, borage is edible, but it is mainly grown for its decorative foliage and charming, nodding star shaped flowers in blue, but sometimes pink. The fact is that this bushy perennial too has a strong scent, which we can only perceive when we get close, while mosquitoes can smell from a distance!

Easy to grow, borage is ideal for informal borders or in your vegetable garden. It is also a very sturdy perennial, virtually maintenance free, and it is adaptable to many growing conditions. A very safe choice to repel mosquitoes.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 9.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, average fertile loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

15. Vervain (Verbena officinalis)

Vervain is a low growing perennial that will easily adapt to borders or very informal flower beds, and you can keep it in containers too. Its clusters of blue, purple or pink flowers will grace your decorative or vegetable garden from July to fall, just when mosquitoes get very annoying and hungry! But these biting insects will not appreciate its floral display, because they hate its aroma.

And guess what? Vervain is also a great herb to use in the kitchen.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: mid-summer to fall.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, medium fertile loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

16. Neem Tree(Azadirachta indica)

Growing up to 30 feet tall (9.0 meters) neem tree is a real beauty, so, if you have a large garden… Its fine, pinnate leaves arch beautifully giving you shade, while huge clusters of white flowers hang from the branches in summer. These are then followed by olive-like green fruits, which are very decorative as well. And no mosquito will ever get any near it (nor many plant pests)! Why? It contains azadirachtin, which is lethal to them…

You will need to live in a hot country to grow a neem tree in your garden, but that’s where most mosquitoes live, and it is a really stunning beauty!

• Hardiness: USDA zones 10 to 11.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: deep, well drained, average fertile loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

17. Cinnamon Basil (Ocimum basilicum ‘Cinnamon’)

All varieties of basil will deter mosquitoes, unlike us, they don’t like its fragrance. And they are all pretty, to be honest, but if you are looking for a particularly decorative one, choose ‘Cinnamon’. Its leaves are pointed and darkish, with the stems turning purple, adding color, which contrasts dramatically with the pale, whitish flowers that bloom through summer.

You can grow cinnamon basil in containers, in your vegetable garden or low beds and border frons, as it only reaches 2 feet tall (60 cm), and it will add color to your meals as well, on top of the usual flavor of this popular herb.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 10 to 11.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, fertile loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

18. Bronze Fennel(Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’)

Mosquitoes also hate the aniseed aroma of fennel, like the common one you use to cook or make salads with. Its fine leaves are a beauty too, but if you want a stunning variety, there’s the bronze one, or ‘Purpureum’. The stems grow quite tall, up to 3 feet (90 cm) and they have an amazing purple color! It is edible and delicious too, but it will add interest and texture to your garden.

Do not grow bronze fennel close to other plants too, because, on top of repelling mosquitoes it also “fights” against them (it is allelopathic). In fact, it is usually grown in containers, where it can put on a real show!

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9 (grown as an annual in colder regions)
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, fertile loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

19. Wild Bergamot(Monarda fistulosa)

A real bergamot tree will repel mosquitoes, but it only grows in a few valleys in Italy. Monarda fructosa, or wild bergamot, however, is not the “real thing”, nor a tree at all, but a herbaceous flowering perennial, with a strong aromatic aroma that these biting insects dislike. Related to mint, it produces decorative clusters of mauve colored flowers in whorls that open at the top of the stems, which are about 2 to 3 feet tall (60 to 90 cm).

Wild bergamot is ideal for informal herbaceous borders, but you can have it in your vegetable garden as well, or in any natural or wild looking corner of your garden.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 5 to 9.
• Light requirements: full Sun to part shade.
• Bloom time: summer to early fall.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, fertile loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

20. Rose Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens)

The scientific name of rose geranium is a giveaway; it means “smelly”! It is of the same genus as other geraniums, but with a stronger scent, less showy flowers and finely cut leaves. Very decorative and elegant, it is a strong deterrent for mosquitoes, but still a great beauty for your garden.

What is more, rose geranium is one of the few varieties that doesn’t need a container to bloom, so you can also grow it in flower beds or low borders, as it only grows to 2 feet tall (60 cm).

• Hardiness: USDA zones 9 to 11.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: spring to summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, average fertile loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

21. Cinnamon Tree (Cinnamomum verum)

You need to live in a hot country and have a large garden to grow a cinnamon tree, but if you are so lucky, it will repel mosquitoes from your and your neighbors’ homes as well! Its super strong spicy fragrance really scares them off, while it fascinates us… Growing to up to 40 feet tall (12 meters), it has amazing dense and glossy foliage, which turns red later in the season.

The flowers are small and inconspicuous, starry and star shaped, but cinnamon tree is one of the most powerful plants against mosquitoes, and it grows in hot climates, where these biting insects thrive.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 10 to 11.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: spring to summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: deep, well-drained, fertile loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH  mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

22. Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citrodora)

Lemon verbena is actually used to make mosquito repellent products, because its sweet but citrusy fragrance is so strong that mosquitoes run away from it. The good news is that it is also a very decorative shrub, growing up to 5 feet tall (1.5 meters), and offering you small but finely textured, pointed green and glossy leaves, and in summer, also dainty clusters of whitish flowers.

You will love the fragrance of lemon verbena, which you can smell from a distance, and you can grow it as a shrub or in borders in any informal garden.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 9 to 11 (grown as an annual in colder regions).
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, fertile loam, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

23. Yarrow(Achillea millefolium)

Yarrow attracts lots of beetles and other pollinators that rest on its large round cymes packed with tiny flowers in white, yellow, orange, gold, in bright or pastel shades… This spectacle will hover above finely laced foliage through summer. Great for your garden and its health, Achillea millefolium is no good for mosquitoes though, because they cannot stomach its herby smell.

Great for a cottage garden, wild meadows of an informal herbaceous border, yarrow is super tough, cold hardy and easy to grow,

• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 9.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: summer.
• Watering needs: moderate, drought tolerant.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, average fertile loam, clay, chalk or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral.

24. Tarragon(Artemisia dracunculus)

We use tarragon as a herb, but have you ever seen a plant? This perennial grows up to 3 feet tall, with many upright stems packed with small leaves in a bright green to silver green color. It will add texture to your garden through the season, and, in summer, it will also produce beautiful golden yellow flowers galore. It is very attractive indeed, to us, but not to mosquitoes, because they detest its fragrance.

You can grow tarragon in your herb or vegetable garden, but also in flower beds or border frons. Or why not keep it in a pot, on a window sill, maybe in your kitchen?

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9.
• Light requirements: full Sun.
• Bloom time: summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, average fertile loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

25. Catnip (Nepeta cataria)

We can close with a little thought for our cats… They love catnip, as you know, be we like it too, because its bushy clump of dense leaves can fill in gaps in our garden, and when it blooms with those dense, rising clusters of white or mauve-purple flowers, in late spring and early summer, it brightens up our gardens and it attracts lots of pollinators. But, you guessed, mosquitoes are really disgusted by its smell!

So, keep mosquitoes away and make your cats happy by growing catnip in your flower beds, borders or in your veggie garden.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 9.
• Light requirements: full Sun to part shade.
• Bloom time: late spring to early summer.
• Watering needs: moderate.
• Soil requirements: well-drained, average fertile loam, clay or chalk based soil with pH from mildly acidic to mildly alkaline.

A Beautiful Garden without Mosquitoes!

So, pick any of these varieties, according to your taste, your needs, your space, your climate, and you will have a great-looking garden, but no nasty mosquitoes around!