Indoor Plants That Keep Bugs Away

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Creepy crawly things in your house are no fun. A way to avoid having them in the house is to have some indoor plants that keep bugs away.

There are actually some everyday kitchen essential herbs that can be an awesome way to keep mosquitos, moths, flies, gnats and even more annoying bugs out of your house.

House Plants That Keep Bugs Away

Lavender
Venus Fly Trap
Basil
Mint
Rosemary
Sage
Lemon Balm
Catnip
Marigolds

Lavender

In addition to the lovely relaxing smell that lavender produces, it is also great at keeping some bugs away due to it’s scent.

Lavender helps keep moths, mosquitoes, beetles, and fleas away. And in addition to the creepy crawly bugs, mice also don’t like lavender.

It’s a good idea to keep lavender plants near your entryways to help keep the bugs away. You can also cut some off, dry it out, and hang the dried lavender in your closets to help with moths. (Much more pleasant smelling than mothballs).

Venus Fly Trap

This bug eating plant is definitely a houseplant that keeps bugs away. I mean after all, it literally eats them.

Venus Fly Traps are a carnivorous plant. It traps bug with it’s crazy looking leaves by trapping the bug in the leaves.

You can often find Venus Fly Traps for sale at a local garden center.

Venus Fly Traps need direct sunlight and they prefer higher humidity.

When growing these indoors, you will have to feed them. You can check out this guide on feeding Venus Fly Traps.

You will just want to make sure you don’t put your Venus Fly Trap anywhere near other plants that naturally repel bugs from scent.

Basil

Basil is an easy to grow herb that is great to keep around for cooking delicious recipes.

You can grow basil both indoors and outdoors. But keeping a basil plant inside can be a great plant to have around to repel bugs.

Bugs just don’t like basil. It’s a great herb to keep inside to help keep away flies and mosquitoes.

All you need to keep basil around is a sunny spot and a nice pot of soil.

Just make sure if you get the Venus Fly Trap, not to put it close to basil since it’s scent keeps the bugs from going near it.

Mint

Mint is another herb that you can keep around the kitchen who’s smell bugs don’t like.

It is a very easy to grow herb. Mint can easily be grown inside and kept for not only use in the kitchen but to also keep bugs out of the kitchen.

Like basil, you just need a sunny spot and some good soil in a pot to get this herb to grow well.

Rosemary

If you want to add even more herbs to your bug repelling kitchen herb garden, then Rosemary is another good addition.

Like lavender, rosemary can be dried and put in a small satchel to be kept in a closet to help keep moths away.

Sage

Sage is another fragrant herb that keeps bugs away that you can also add to your indoor kitchen herb garden.

With the oil that a sage plat produces and the smell, it is a very effective way to keep flies and mosquitoes away.

Another bonus with sage is if you are having an outdoor bonfire, you can throw some of the sage in there to keep bugs away from your outdoor gathering.

Lemon Balm

Lemon balm has high levels of citronella. And if you have ever gotten an outdoor candle to keep the mosquitos away from you, then you are probably aware that citronella is a bug repellent.

You can keep a lemon balm plant in your house to help get that same bug repelling effect.

Catnip

If you’re into relaxing and calming teas, or if you have a cat you like to grow some special stuff for, then catnip is a great plant to keep and grow around the house.

You can let it pull double duty by being an effective natural way to keep bugs away. The same natural ingredient in catnip that attracts cats and relaxes humans drives bugs away.

Marigolds

Not only for your outdoor planters or companion plant in the garden. You can also keep marigolds inside to help keep away bugs like pesky bugs.

The scent of marigolds helps keep away flies, gnats, and mosquitoes.