Spring gardening and fragrant plants add beauty, but may also attract pests. As everyone emerges to soak up the sun, rats and other vermin scurry around and detract from healthy outdoor pleasures.
Fortunately, you can include six power plants in your garden to keep the rats away. Discover how including the right plants can keep your garden looking lovely and drive away unwanted intruders.
Plants Like Lavender
Lavender adds scent and color to spring gardens, making them more enticing. Dried lavender is a decorative accent throughout the spring and summer.
Another benefit of lavender is its ability to drive away mice because it disrupts their sense of smell. The plant thrives in sunny areas with proper drainage, and an added benefit is that lavender attracts pollinators.
Just Add Onions
Onions are a healthy addition to your garden and diet. Their pungent odor also repels rodents, making them ideal for sunny spots with good drainage.
Once the crop matures, harvest the onions to avoid attracting other pests. Another impressive allium is garlic, which repels rats and becomes a tasty part of future meals.
It’s Mint to Be
The scent of mint invigorates our senses, but overwhelms rodents’ sense of smell. While we appreciate minty odors, they drive away rats.
Mint thrives in the sun or shade, making it ideal for garden borders. After harvesting, they are perfect in salads and teas.
The Name is Rosemary
Rosemary has a woody aroma that makes rodents want to leave your garden. These attractive plants thrive in sunny locations and help drive mice away.
While rats find rosemary unpleasant, it brings a delightful fragrance to the yard. Rosemary can be picked fresh from the garden and used in stews and roasts.
A Sage Suggestion
Versatile sage thrives outdoors, in container gardens, and inside the house. This fragrant plant can help deter rodents wherever they enter the house.
Sage contains volatile oils that repel mice, making it great as a border plant to keep vermin away from other plants. Harvested sage is also perfect for various delicious recipes, making this plant do double duty for your efforts.
Catnip Plants
It makes sense to consider planting catnip, a pretty purple plant that naturally deters rodents and adds color to the garden. Catnip contains nepetalactone, an essential oil that rodents dislike.
Catnip attracts cats, which will help drive away the mice from your yard. Spraying catnip spray around your garden is another way to keep the pests at bay.
The Wrapup
Power plants add color and fragrance to your garden and help repel rats. Scents that are pleasant to us are offensive to them, driving them away and keeping your home healthier.
To eliminate pesky rodents, include plants like mint, rosemary, lavender, and catnip. Other colorful options can include daffodils, tulips, and marigolds.
