The Plants That Keep Mosquitoes Away (And Why Our Balcony Finally Became Usable Again)

It’s the same every summer. You get the patio all ready to go with chairs, lights and something for grilling, and at last the temperature is nice. You actually get to sit down for approximately forty-five seconds, and then the mosquitos show up, and that’s your evening ruined.

We’ve really tried all sorts of things to get rid of them. There are sprays, things you plug in, and citronella candles (which are more noticeable for the smell of citronella than for the mosquitos actually being bothered by them!). But nothing did a particularly good job of letting us enjoy being outdoors.
I then began to think about plants.

I don’t mean a single lavender plant will magically solve a huge mosquito problem. However, they can be a part of a strategy to make your area less attractive to mosquitos, all while improving how it looks and smells for you.

And after two summers of doing things differently, we can really use the balcony in the evenings now. This is what changed things.

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Why Plants Work Against Mosquitoes

Let’s look at what is going on before we discuss the plants themselves. Mosquitoes find their way to us mostly by smelling – specifically, they like the carbon dioxide we breathe out, our body heat, and some of the substances our bodies nat