Is there any plant I can grow to keep the mosquitoes away?
If there was, every gardener from Vancouver to St. John's would be growing vast tracts of it and never again would any mosquito dare to come anywhere near Canada.
Every year it seems someone gets the brilliant idea to market something called a “Mosquito Plant” or a “Citronella Plant”. More often than not, these miracle plants are some form of scented geranium and they really do smell an awful lot like those citronella scented candles you can purchase just about everywhere once mosquito season kicks into high gear. However, these plants contain no actual citronella oil and repeated studies have shown they're ineffective against mosquitoes, a fact which doesn't seem to bother those marketing them in the least.
(True citronella oil, in case you're wondering, is extracted from a tropical grass, not a geranium.)
Some common garden plants such as catnip, rosemary, marigolds and lemon thyme are rumoured to have a repellent effect against mosquitoes, but how much of an effect is a matter of some debate. What isn't debated is that no plant will release repellent chemicals unless challenged, so if you want to experiment with any of these plants, you'll need to do more than simply sticking them in the ground. You'll also need to crush a few of their leaves in order to coax the plant into releasing its oils.
A better way to address the mosquito problem is to focus on minimizing those things that make your property attractive to them.
Since mosquitoes like to breed in standing water, cover rain barrels, regularly dump water out of birdbaths, clean out rain gutters and make sure water isn't accumulating in recycling bins, garbage cans or any other objects lying around on your property. Fixing the spigot that's been leaking for several months wouldn't be a bad idea either.
Mosquitoes also like to hang out in tall grass, so mowing your lawn on a regular basis will also help to deter them.
All of this sound like a lot of work, which is probably why you, me, and the entire population of Winnipeg are looking for plants to do the job for us. Given a choice between cleaning gutters and bruising some leaves, most of us would go for the leaves.
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to me at vanessa@gardenmuse.ca.
