A marigold is thought to repel bugs.
Bug-repellent flowers bring life and vibrancy to your garden and provide a natural defense against plant-loving insects with voracious appetites. Also referred to as companion plants, bug-repellent flowers can help you save money on specific garden pesticides such as insect sprays and repellent powders. Bug-repellent flowers do not repel all bugs. But several of these flowers can banish more than one type of insect from your planting beds. Does this Spark an idea?
Marigolds
Whatever you plant in your garden, intersperse the plantings with a variety of marigolds. The flowers and foliage of a marigold plant release an odor that many insects find intolerable. As marigolds mature, they help drive out harmful nematodes found in the garden soil as well as whiteflies -- those tiny little creatures that look like small white moths. The scent from a marigold plant helps to keep tomato hornworms at bay as well as Mexican bean beetles. Adult bean beetles look like extra-large ladybugs; they have a voracious appetite and they hate marigolds.
Chives
If you enjoy eating fresh herbs or you like the natural beauty they bring to your garden, plant some chives. Chives help banish harmful nematodes from the soil and protect your roses from two destructive plant pests: aphids and mites. Aphids are tiny bugs that enjoy the tender parts of rosebushes. They pierce soft stems of foliage and suck out the plant's juices. Mites, also called spider mites, enjoy drinking the sap from rosebushes, and a profusion of mites gives your rosebush a speckled appearance.
Your rosebush will benefit from you planting chives around its base. Small, puffy flowers will appear on the chives toward the end of May; they will help prevent colonies of aphids from decimating the roses. Growing chives as a bug repellent for your roses offers a two-fold benefit: You can help your roses banish destructive insects and you can harvest the chives for consumption.
Nasturtiums
Nasturtiums grow rapidly, and their flowers add color to a garden. Butterflies are attracted to them. Nasturtiums contain a natural bug repellent that helps to control cabbage moths that feed on the outer leaves of plants. Pumpkin beetles that attack pumpkin vines as well as the pumpkin itself cannot tolerate nasturtiums. All varieties of the common flowering nasturtium help to control aphids, whiteflies, squash beetles and invasive potato bugs that like to feast on the lush foliage of your vegetable plants. Not only does the nasturtium flower act as a deterrent against bugs, but you can also eat the petals and blooms of its flowers.
Garlic
"Scapes" is the botanical term for a garlic stem that produces flowers. Scapes are produced in early summer, and most cultivars of garlic only generate topsets that are also known as bulbils. Garlic has a debilitating effect on mosquito larvae and plays an important role in driving caterpillars and borers from your planting beds. Garlic is a truly valuable insect fighter renowned for its ability to ward off infamous Japanese beetles that love to chew on almost all garden plants. Planting garlic in your planting beds will also help to repel aphids and mites.
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