Home - Garden
How Marigold Flowers Can Keep Your Garden Yellowjacket-Free
By ERICA HAWBAKER
Yellowjackets not only pose a risk to people visiting the garden but will also harm beneficial pollinators like honeybees. To deter them from your garden, plant marigold flowers.
While yellowjackets are attracted to sweet aromas, the clustered double-flowers of marigolds produce a pungent smell that these insects find repelling.
French and African marigolds, especially, produce thiophene that contributes to their scent. Additionally, French marigolds can fight off nematodes and protect plant root systems.
For an amplified effect, consider planting marigolds next to other plants renowned for suppressing wasps, such as red geraniums, mint, eucalyptus, and wormwood.