There are many outdoor pests you may be keen to avoid, but flies can very easily become the most annoying when you're trying to enjoy your outdoor spaces, the insect you're most eager to deter. Adult flies can circle your head, buzzing endlessly, while you're trying to enjoy your garden or patio—and worse, they're prone to sneaking in the house and becoming an even bigger hassle to get rid of. We spoke with Amber Noyes from Gardening Chores to get her recommendations on some of the best plants that flies like to avoid, and her top tips for getting the most pest-deterring power from them. Meet the Expert Amber Noyes is an expert horticulturist and editor at Gardening Chores. She holds a Master's degree in horticulture from the University of California and has experience working on and caring for organic farms. 01 of 10 Basil (Ocimum basilicum) A plant Noyes says truly "worked wonders" for her own garden is one you might already grow, or want to. Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is a very popular herb found in many kitchen gardens and adds dynamic, delicious flavor to a huge range of meals. Noyes stresses that the aroma of basil, which most humans like and associate with a good meal, is actually highly unfavorable to some of the most common garden pests, like flies and mosquitoes. If you want to be successful at repelling flies you'll need your basil plants thriving outdoors as well as indoors. Name: Basil (Ocimum basilicum) USDA Hardiness Zones: perennial in 10-11 Light: Bright, 6-8 hours per day Soil: Well-drained 02 of 10 Lavender (Lavandula) Another plant Noyes recommends highly is also popular with many gardeners. Lavender (Lavandula) is sought-after for its relaxing, spa-like scent and is also popular for drying or use in essential oils. While we tend to love this beautiful flowering plant, a perennial that can live up to 20 years if given the right conditions, flies are repelled by its scent and will likely stay far away. Lavender can also deter moths and mosquitoes, so it's a multi-functional bug-repellent plant that looks and smells lovely in your garden. Name: Lavender (Lavandula) USDA Hardiness Zones: 5-9 Light: Full sun Soil: Well-drained, slightly alkaline 03 of 10 Catnip (Nepeta cataria) This herbaceous perennial may be a favorite of housecats around the world, but it's also an option that may help you keep pesky flies out of your yard or patio. Low maintenance and fast-growing, this plant can spread quickly around your garden if left unchecked, so opt for container growing if you want to control its size. Flower spikes appear from late spring through fall, with clusters of white and purple blooms. While the dried leaves of this plant are popular for cats, note that the oils of the fresh plant can be toxic to them. Regardless, the scents and oils of this plant can deter pests and is a great option for those seeking natural bug repellant. Name: Catnip (Nepeta cataria) USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-7 Light: Full sun Soil: Well-drained, loamy, sandy 04 of 10 Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) A relative of mint with a citrusy profile, lemon balm is a lovely addition to home gardens with a bright scent that gardeners usually love—and plenty of insects avoid. Packed with the key compound citronellal, which is used in most natural insect repellants on the market, it's a natural solution for driving away flies, mosquitoes, and other unwelcome garden visitors. Name: Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-7 Light: Full sun, partial shade Soil: Well-drained Tip Keep in mind that lemon balm, like its close relative mint, is a rapidly growing plant that will quickly overtake your other plants, so most gardeners keep this one container-bound. 05 of 10 Marigold (Tagetes spp.) Another favorite recommendation of Noyes, marigolds are a popular flower known for their bright, cheerful colors and plentiful array of blooms throughout the summer. They come in a range of size and color varieties, but all include the compound pyrethrum, which is used in many insect repellants, and is what makes this plant valuable in your efforts to keep flies away. Marigolds are a true annual, growing quickly and reaching maturity in only a couple of months, providing plenty of flowers throughout the summer before dying off when frost arrives. Name: Marigold (Tagetes spp.) USDA Hardiness Zones: 2-11 (annual) Light: Full sun Soil: Well-drained, moist 06 of 10 Carnivorous Plants It's possible your first thought when it comes to getting rid of flies was a Venus flytrap or other carnivorous varieties—and not for no reason. While these plants won't keep flies from entering your home or garden in the first place, a healthy carnivorous plant will kill any fly that lands on it, helping take care of some stragglers, especially those who sneak inside. There are more carnivorous plants than just Venus flytraps, including pitcher plants, butterwort, and cobra lily. Each has unique structures that trap insects and immobilize or even consume them. Carnivorous plants are typically tropical and unlikely to survive outdoors in most of the U.S., but they can thrive indoors if given proper care and growing environment. Name: Various carnivorous species USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-9, depending on species Light: Typically full sun Soil: Usually boggy, acidic soil 07 of 10 Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) This fragrant perennial herb is an easy-to-grow and popular plant, both for kitchen gardens and as a larger, border shrub when given space to thrive outdoors. Edible needle-like leaves grow on woody stems, with flowers blooming most often in spring and summer, as well as occasionally throughout the year. Rosemary is popular in cooking and baking, but also happens to have a scent that naturally deters pests like flies and gnats. Name: Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) USDA Hardiness Zones: 8-10 Light: Full sun Soil: Well-drained, sandy, loamy 08 of 10 Sage (Salvia officinalis) Popular kitchen herbs are a theme among plants that repel flies and other garden pests. That's because oftentimes the lovely flavors and aromas of these plants, which we value highly for cooking, baking, and essential oils, are repellant to flies. Sage is another great option—this easy-to-grow semi-shrubby perennial herb grows moderately quickly and does well both in the ground and in containers. Name: Sage (Salvia officinalis) USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-10 Light: Full sun Soil: Well-drained, sandy, loamy 09 of 10 Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis) Bay laurel, also known by names like bay leaf, sweet bay, or laurel tree, is a Mediterranean shrub or tree known for its leaves, which are commonly used in cooking. But this lovely plant's aroma also helps deter a host of frustrating garden pests, like flies. It's especially helpful if you plant a larger bay laurel tree, or a series of them next to each other, which will create almost a wall that pushes flies away. Name: Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) USDA Hardiness Zones: 8-10 Light: Full or partial sun Soil: Well-drained, moist 10 of 10 Mint (Mentha spp.) Popular and often included in home and kitchen gardens, mint is available in a wide range of varieties with different flavors and specific uses, and grows rapidly if given the right conditions. You may have heard mint described as growing like a weed, taking over any garden bed it's given access to. For this reason, many gardeners keep it in containers, preferring to be able to manage its size and grab leaves as needed in cooking, mixology, and aromatherapy. While we may love the bright, refreshing scent of mint plants, many pesky insects like flies will steer clear of it, so it's another great aromatic to help you keep your outdoor zones fly-free. Name: Mint (Mentha spp.) USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-11 Light: Full or partial sun Soil: Well-drained, moist, loamy Why Deter Flies? In their larvae state, many fly species will be a menace to your garden plants—prone to developing into a soil infestation and eating plants until they can no longer thrive. For both of these reasons, most gardeners and outdoors lovers are keen to keep the common pests at bay. Thankfully, doing so can be as easy as being strategic about what you plant in your own garden. Here are the 10 best plant varieties to grow for natural fly repellent. Additional Tips to Repel Flies Not only is it important to include the right plants in your garden, but Noyes also suggests these tips: Plant in strategic spots, like near your seating areas, around doorways or windows of your home, and around outdoor tables—anywhere you want flies to stay clear from Remember that effectiveness will depend on many factors, including the health of your plants, your climate, and the seriousness of a fly infestation. These plants will all help deter sporadic flies, but won't be able to eradicate a complete existing infestation. You'll need additional fly traps or exterminators for that. Including several plants from this list is more likely to be effective; the more the better!

Eggplant is a very common vegetable that's part of the nightshade family. These easy to grow veggies are quite popular in many gardens around the world. In this article, organic gardening expert Logan Hailey takes you through each step you'll need to follow to successfully plant, grow, and care for eggplant in your garden. Whether cooking up a cheesy eggplant parmesan, roasted baba ganoush dip, or a simple grilled side, eggplant is a summer staple. These glossy purple vegetables are widely used in Italian, French, Indian, Mediterranean, Chinese, and Japanese dishes. In fact, they come in a vast range of colors and shapes that we don’t often see in the supermarket. Eggplant (or “aubergine” in Europe) is simple to grow and a joy to eat. This warm-weather garden crop bears heavily and withstands even the hottest summers. In the kitchen, eggplant has a mild flavor that can readily adapt to the oil and seasoning of any dish. The spongy, creamy texture is reminiscent of squash. Requiring just over two months to mature, eggplant is a fast-growing and rewarding nightshade vegetable. It’s the perfect veggie to add to your summer abundance of zucchini, tomatoes, and bell peppers. If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at growing one of the dozens of unique purple, white, pink, striped, or green varieties, spring is the best time to get started. Let’s take a closer look at everything you’ll need to get started growing eggplant in your own garden. History and Cultivation Most of us think of eggplant as a shiny purple rounded fruit sliced up in lasagna or eggplant parmesan. But long before eggplant made its way to Italy, this nightshade-family crop grew wild across Africa for millions of years. It is suspected that it was first domesticated in Asia and later spread across the globe as an economically important food plant. What is Eggplant? Eggplant is a warm-weather vegetable known by the Latin name Solanum melongena. The edible portion of is technically a fruit. S. melongena is a tender perennial in its native Africa and Southeast Asia. However, it is most commonly grown as an annual in temperate gardens. As a member of the Solanaceae, or Nightshade family, they are closely related to potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and tobacco. Also known as aubergine or Guinea squash, eggplant is an upright bushy plant that often has spines along its stem. The leaves are large and somewhat fuzzy, often with a purplish hue. Eggplant flowers are vibrant purple and hang like pendants downward. From the flowers grow egg-or-banana-shaped fruits with glossy skins that can be purple, fuschia, white, yellowish, or striped, depending on the variety. The European varieties tend to be the plump, egg-shaped types whereas Asian and Middle Eastern varieties are elongated and banana-shaped. Eggplant is used in a vast variety of global cuisines. It’s most well known for the signature eggplant parmesan of Italy, the Middle Eastern relish dip called baba ganoush, Greek moussaka, and the spicy Indian eggplant curry called baingan bharta. Where Does Eggplant Originate? Recent genetic sequencing of eggplant (or aubergine as Europeans call it) has revealed that sometime in the last couple million years, it split into two distinct lineages. One of the wild African type. The other into the ancestor of what we now know as domesticated Asian and European eggplants. Believe it or not, the spread of eggplants out of Africa and into Asia was likely facilitated by African elephants and impala feeding on the Solanaceous fruits and pooping out their seeds as they migrated! As the elephants carried on with their eggplant feasts, Southeast Asian and Indian farmers began domesticating aubergine plants several thousand years ago. The antiquity of eggplant is shown by its wide range of names in Sanskrit, Bengali, Hindustani, and Chinese languages. The oldest known records of eggplant come from a 5th-century Chinese cookbook. These ancient eggplants were likely far more similar to the heirloom Thai, Chinese, and Japanese varieties we see at local farmer’s markets today. They were long, slender, and curved somewhat like a banana, with violet, fuschia, white, or dark purple skin. As we’ll explore below, the diversity of Asian eggplants far surpasses that of European types. The delicately sweet flavor and denser texture of Asian types have converted even the most adamant eggplant-haters into aubergine lovers. When Did Eggplant Come to the Western World? Fast forward to the 16th through 18th centuries, when Moors carried the eggplant westward. Upon its arrival and establishment in Spanish cuisine, many Spaniards began calling them berengenas, or “apples of love.” This was based on the Medieval idea that eggplant could be used in a sort of love potion. Meanwhile, other European botanists called them Mala insana. This translates to “mad apple, because they thought eating the nightshade would make you go insane. A similar sort of folklore traveled with eggplant to the Americas in the 1500s. But the crop did not catch on. For centuries, colonists were very suspicious of eggplant because it was a member of the Nightshade family (along with tomatoes and potatoes). Nightshades have many toxic relatives. Many Americans thought that eggplants, tomatoes, and potatoes were poisonous and even associated with the devil. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that large purple Italian eggplants finally became popular amongst European gardeners and later amongst commercial vegetable producers. Interestingly, eggplant was primarily considered an ornamental plant before it became accepted as a food crop. Finally, sometime around the 1960s, the smaller, more slender Asian varieties made their way to the United States. Though we were quite behind in discovering the abundance of shapes, sizes, flavors, and colors of eggplant, modern gardeners have a whole world of eggplant samplings at their fingertips. Propagation Eggplant is usually propagated from seed. The flattened nightshade seeds look very similar to tomato seeds because they are actually from the same genus (Solanum). They are extremely heat-loving plants, so the seeds need plenty of warmth to germinate. For this reason, it’s best to start seeds indoors in seedling trays. If you don’t have a greenhouse or seed starting setup, consider purchasing starts from a local nursery to make your life a little easier. How to Seed Eggplant Eggplant seeds should be started indoors in flats or cell trays about 6 to 8 weeks prior to planting outside. Fill your trays with a high-quality well-drained potting mix and sow 1-3 seeds per cell about ¼” deep. Lightly cover with soil and maintain consistent moisture until germination. The soil temperature should be between 80-90° until the seedlings emerge (use a temperature probe to check). A heating mat is the easiest way to ensure even germination. After the seeds come up, the soil temperature can be reduced to around 70°F. Anything colder than this will result in poor germination or stunted plants. After the seedlings have 1-2 sets of true leaves, thin to one plant per cell. If you started in smaller plugs, you can up-pot the seedlings to 3” pots. This allows them to get larger and stronger before transplanting. Keep the ambient temperature above 70°F for adequate establishment. After 6 to 7 weeks, eggplant starts should be large enough to prepare for planting. Be sure to harden off your seedlings about one week before planting out in the garden. You can do this by reducing the amount of water (but still maintaining adequate moisture) and lowering their temperature exposure to around 60°F. You can move plants to a sheltered outdoor space under row cover to allow them to get accustomed to night time temperatures. Planting Eggplants aren’t ready to be planted in the garden until several weeks after the last spring frost. In some regions, you should wait until early summer. The weather needs to be thoroughly settled and consistently above 60°F. Eggplants are very tender and sensitive to the cold. Too much cold exposure will significantly reduce plant vigor and yields. Practice companion planting with your eggplants to help with pest and disease prevention. How to Grow Eggplant Eggplants are heavy feeding, heat-loving crops that absolutely love rich, fertile soil and consistent water. Once established, the plants aren’t super needy or time-consuming. As long as you take the time to give eggplants the proper conditions to thrive, they will reward you with loads of glossy fruits. Maintenance Some gardeners prefer to prune and stake up their eggplants so that they don’t fall over, however, I have never found this to be necessary. Sometimes the plants will be weighted down by a heavy fruit set, but they shouldn’t topple over unless you are in an exceptionally windy area or your soil is extremely loose. In any case, wooden stakes with twine or small tomato cages will do.

Are you looking for a showy, long-lasting flower for your perennial garden? This easy-to-grow plant adds plenty of color to your garden and attracts pollinators, too! In this article, gardening enthusiast Liessa Bowen introduces the allure of wood betony and how to grow these spectacular plants. Wood betony, also known as purple betony (Betonica officinalis), is an easy-to-grow member of the mint family. It is native to Europe, Africa, and Asia. It is hardy, versatile, and easy to incorporate into a variety of landscape settings. This herbaceous perennial is showy and will liven up your garden with its colorful blooms rising above leafy rosettes. Use it as a ground cover, to fill in along edges and corners, or as a complimentary perennial among others in your cottage garden, pocket prairie, or butterfly garden. As with many other plants in the mint family, betony doesn’t require much care and attention. All you need to get started is one plant or a few seeds, and you’ll be well on your way to a healthy colony. These plants actually thrive with minimal attention; as long as you can help get them started and provide regular weed-pulling services, they’ll generally take care of themselves. Do you have room for wood betony in your garden? If so, keep reading to learn more about this appealing, easy-care perennial flower and how to best incorporate it into your landscape. Natural History Wood betony is native to Europe, western Asia, and Northern Africa. Within its native region, it is found in fields and meadows, parks and meadows, and sunny, open woodlands. It is widely adaptable and can be found in a variety of sunny habitats with temperate climates. The genus Betonica consists of many different herbaceous species, including various plants known as betony, hedge nettle, bishop’s wort, and woundwort. These various betony species are common wildflowers throughout their native range and may be considered weedy because they are so widespread. This valuable wildlife plant has also been used by humans throughout the ages. Betony has been used for medicinal and cultural purposes and is thought to bring luck and protect from harm. Betony is still used as a modern herb to treat assorted ailments. You can also brew betony leaves to make tea. Characteristics Betony forms dense patches of upright stems, spreading by both rhizomes and self-seeding. Like most mints, it has square stems and a distinctive strong scent. The heart-shaped leaves and stems are slightly hairy giving it a rough or soft feel. In warmer climates, betony leaves may stay evergreen during the winter months. In the spring, when the leaves first emerge, individual plants appear in dense clusters of basal rosettes. As the plants mature through the spring, they develop taller, leafy, flowering stems. These leaves grow in opposite pairs and are evenly toothed along the edges. Betony flowers bloom by late spring or early summer. The flowers form dense spiky clusters. Each individual flower is small, no more than a few millimeters long, and tubular with a distinctly speckled lower lip. Flowers are typically pinkish purple, although different species and cultivars of betony will have more varied flower colors. Due to its popularity as a garden perennial, there are several beautiful cultivars. You will find differences in the leaf shapes and sizes, and more notably differences in the flowering times and flower colors, although the flowers are typically shades of pink and purple. Propagation This plant is not only easy to grow, it is also very easy to propagate. You can start new plants from seed or divide established clumps to start new colonies. If you have access to mature plants, the quickest and easiest propagation method will be division. If you are starting from scratch, the most economical means to acquire new plants will be starting from seed. How to Grow This vigorous plant is easy to grow in the home garden. All you need is a temperate climate with a sunny plot and moist soil. Within a short period of time, you’ll be enjoying your showy betony flowers! Maintenance This is a low-maintenance garden plant. There are a few things you’ll want to manage in order to help your plants look their best. Since betony plants tend to form dense colonies over time, thin your plants regularly to prevent overcrowding. Prune back any dead or diseased stems and remove them from your garden to prevent re-infection of pests or diseases.