08/10/2026
Please avoid chemicals in your garden
🌿 GARDENING TIP: FIGHT MOSQUITOES NATURALLY
The Garden Club of America Horticulture Committee recommends that before reaching for chemical sprays, work with nature.
Broad-spectrum mosquito fogging doesn't just kill mosquitoes—it also harms beneficial insects, including dragonflies, bees, butterflies, and fireflies, disrupting your garden's natural balance.
Dragonflies are among nature's most effective mosquito hunters. Both adults and their aquatic larvae feed on mosquitoes, helping reduce mosquito populations naturally.
Here are three simple ways to keep mosquitoes in check while supporting a healthy garden:
- Eliminate standing water. Empty containers, saucers, buckets, and clogged gutters, as well as other places where water collects. Even a bottle cap of standing water can become a mosquito breeding site.
- Welcome beneficial insects. Plant a variety of native flowers and avoid broad-spectrum pesticides that kill dragonflies and other natural mosquito predators.
- Try a "Bucket of Doom." Fill a bucket halfway with water, add a Bti mosquito dunk (a naturally occurring bacterium that targets mosquito larvae), toss in a handful of dried grass or hay, and place a stick inside so beneficial wildlife can climb back out. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in the bucket, but the Bti, when used correctly, prevents the larvae from developing into biting adults—without harming pollinators, birds, pets, or people.
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Photographer - Karen Campbell McCormick, Magnolia Garden Club, Beaumont, TX
