Every year in late summer it's the same again: yellow and black striped stinging insects buzz around the patio table and compete for cake, fruit and grilled meat. With clever garden planting you can significantly reduce the annoying activity.
The seasonal boom of wasps and hornets
Wasps that occur in our latitudes are primarily the German wasp and the common wasp as well as the hornet, which is the only species living in this country that belongs to the genus of real wasps. All wasp species have a more or less the same state cycle. In spring, the queen establishes the colony and lays the first brood combs in the nest as well as the first generation of eggs. Afterwards, further generations follow with the help of the hatched workers until new sexual animals are bred in late summer.
This is the time when the wasp colony is growing rapidly and the workers have to produce huge amounts of food for their offspring and for themselves - we sometimes feel this in the form of a real wasp invasion at our breakfast tables and outdoor barbecue parties.
So it's worth having plants in the garden that the annoying pests don't like at all. These primarily include herbs with specific smells and a high content of essential oils. The good thing about it: You yourself can benefit pleasantly from the fragrant plants!
What wasps and hornets don't fly on
Wasps turn up their smell-sensitive noses especially at the following plants:
- Basil
- Lemon Verbena
- Lavender
- Frankincense plant
The fresh, spicy smell of basil is an effective deterrent for wasps. The annual culinary herb can be easily cultivated in a bucket over the summer. It exudes a pleasant scent on the terrace and can also be used for caprese salads at barbecues and snacks on the terrace.
Wasps generally don't like lemony smells. Lemon verbena exudes an intense lemony-ethereal scent, which you can intensify by shaking the herb. Lemon verbena or lemon balm is ideal for refreshing home teas.
Lavender scent is a wonderful smell for most people and at the same time keeps the terrace free of wasps - especially it blooms from July, when the wasp wedding begins.
The frankincense plant is also an option - the foliage plant, which is not related to real frankincense but has a very similar smell, also keeps mosquitoes away.