Flowers Known to Attract Mosquitoes

You may have seen Weed Man’s recent blog post on the best flowers to plant for all beginner, intermediate, and expert gardeners. While those may be flowers that you want to add to your garden, there are others that you will want to avoid entirely if you do not want to attract mosquitoes.

Generally, there are two kinds of plants that you will want to avoid: nectar-producing plants, and water-holding plants.

Nectar-Producing Plants

Both male and female adult mosquitoes feed on the nectar of plants for survival and reproductive purposes.

While not all plants produce nectar (for example, plants that are wind-pollinated, such as crop plants and a range of trees and grasses), the vast majority of flowers do.

While it may be impractical to try to avoid planting nectar-producing plants in your garden, you may want to consider swapping some out for wind-pollinated plants, such as catkins or salix, if you are facing an influx of mosquitoes in your area.

Water-Holding Plants

We know that mosquitoes are attracted to any standing body of water where they can lay their eggs, which could theoretically be any plant that has leaves that hold water. However, there are also a few plants that are specifically known for their water-holding capabilities that you may want to avoid. These include water lilies, papyrus, Taro, water hyacinths, and water lettuce.

While these plants are not typically found in a garden, any homeowners with ponds or those living in more marshy areas will want to take special note of these plants.

While it may be daunting to think of plants that ‘attract’ mosquitoes, remember that they are a normal part of nature and serve many other important purposes, such as helping our valued pollinators do their jobs. Here at Mosquito Hero, we don’t recommend cutting any of these plants down! Rather, we encourage you to get creative with wind-pollinated plants in your future gardening plans.

Still facing mosquito problems? Mosquito Hero can help! Request a quote today.