Plants I'm Adding to My Outdoor Space

Being a plant parent feels like it has become the most popular thing to be over the past year.

The only plants I ever take care of are the flowers that I’m gifted. And of course… they just sit in water until they start browning. I’ll admit that I know absolutely nothing about taking care of plants except that they need water. And truthfully, that hardly counts because everything needs water.

The funniest part about all of this is that I actually like plants! I would love to have a small garden that turns into a huge garden, but that requires a lot of space, research, time, and even money depending on what kind of plants you decide to grow.

If you do have a yard and you aren’t very knowledgeable about plants, it could be worth it to hire a company to help. If you’re in the MD/PA/DE area, you should definitely check out Daniel’s Lawn and Tree, LLC. They offer services such as lawn care, tree care in New Castle County, landscape installation, landscape maintenance, and snow removal. They promise a comprehensive knowledge of plants, trees, lawn products, and maintenance strategies, and we can help you keep your property looking its best year-round.
If you rather be taught and/or have the pros handle it all, while having a pretty outdoor space, the professionals are a great resource! They even offer pruning, mulching, edging, weeding, and mowing!

Photos courtesy of Daniel’s Lawn and Tree, LLC.

Advice from the pros is always helpful, especially if you live on a large property, but my living situation is different. Since I’m the resident of an apartment complex, doing it myself was the easiest way to go. The only outdoor space I have to add plants is a balcony, and I wanted to be intentional with my plant choices.

I also had to think about the amount of sunlight that was required of the plants that I decided to pick. My balcony doesn’t get much light, so I was already limited with the type and number of plants I could buy.

Like I said before, I wanted to be intentional, so I narrowed down my choices to plants that repelled bees, wasps, and mosquitos. I want them to be pretty AND useful.
After a quick Google search, I decided to look for basil, geraniums, mint, marigolds, lavender, and maybe cucumber. Here’s why they made the list:

Basil: Bees, wasps, and mosquitos absolutely hate the fragrance that basil gives off. Basil needs heat to grow effectively, so it’s a great plant to have around in the summer. It’s a smaller plant that prefers a location that receives 6-8 hours of full sun each day,which makes it perfect for my outdoor space.
Geraniums: Geraniums are helpful in repelling bees, especially red geraniums, because bees cannot see the color red. This sounds a little backwards, but Geraniums contain little to no pollen and have a scent that the stinging bees do not particularly like. Geraniums prefer 4-6 hours of sun each day and can be transported inside during the cold seasons, which is great because I can try to keep it alive year round. They’re also pretty to look at.
Mint: Bees and wasps absolutely hate mint. Mint plants are also small and don’t require a whole lot of sunlight. This is great because they’re low maintenance. I was warned that they do grow quickly, and their rapid growth rate can cause them to quickly take over a garden. I’ll definitely pot it separately.
Marigolds: Marigolds are flowers that I’ll call a safe bet. It doesn’t necessarily repel bees, but it’s also not attractive to wasps. Marigolds are very easy to take care of because they require little care, and just like Geraniums, the red variety is preferred.
Lavender: Mosquitos don’t like the aroma that comes from lavender plants. This was new to me because I always thought citronella was the plant they feared the most. They are also relatively easy to take care of and prefer lots of sun and drier soil, so it was easy to add lavender to my list.
Cucumber: Bees and wasps are not big fans of the bitterness of the acidity of cucumber peels. I was hesitant about these because I was nervous of how many cucumbers I would end up with or how much space it would take up. But I found mini cucumbers and I’ll likely plant those!

I decided to start with three plants first, so I picked up geraniums, basil, and mini cucumbers.