Plants that repel chipmunks can help protect your garden – they include such plants such as black-eyed susans, lupine and purple conefloweres.
In this article, you are sure to learn more about these plants that chipmunks hate. Which plants work the best as a chipmunk repellent? What are their benefits?
Continue reading this article to find out!
Contents
Plants That Repel Chipmunks
1. Black-eyed Susan
A hardy and perennial wildflower with striking yellow-colored daisy petals, black-eyed Susan is also known as Rudbeckia hirta, a North American flower plant from the Asteraceae family (Natively Eastern and Central-North America). These plants need full, fairly warm conditions to thrive with some protection. These grow best in zones 3-11.
– Benefits
The most important thing is: It is a good chipmunk repellent. This flower is also used to attract butterflies. Butterflies are vitally important for pollination and therefore this is a very big plus!
– Uses
Rudbeckia hirta (or Black-eyed Susan) is useful in medicinal and culinary usage. Talking about medicinal benefits, it can come in handy when curing earache or even sore throats. Native Americans have used it to cure snake bites and parasitic worms, and the liquid present in the roots of this plant has also been used as eardrops. It even is known to help in curing colds and the flu.
– Distinguishing Characteristics
The black-eyed Susan (or Rudbeckia hirta) grows up to 11 – 40 inches and has a width of 12 to 18 inches. The head of the flower has a central cone which is dark brown to prominent black. This central cone is surrounded by rich yellow petal-like rays, with the leaves being long and rough to the touch.
– Propagation
Easily propagated at home in soil through cutting or seeds. They also usually self-sow.
2. Lupine
Lupinus, alternatively known as lupin, bluebonnet, or lupine, belongs to the legume family “Fabaceae.” This plant’s genus consists of over 199 different species of plants. This plant is widely cultivated as a food source as well as an ornamental plant as well. Talking about growth, the lupine plant grows to a height of 0.3 upto 1.5 meters.
– Benefits
Benefits include the stimulation of collagen and elastin production. Extracted from its seeds is Lupeol, which boosts collagen synthesis, providing elasticity and firmness to the skin. The extract also acts as an MMP inhibitor, which breaks down the proteins in your skin. Although leaving your skin prevalent, it helps in inhibiting the damage caused by the sun to your skin.
– Uses
The Lupinus flower has been a food source for over 3,000 years in the Mediterranean (around approx. 6,000 years in the Andes).
Users of Lupinus Mutabillis used to soak the seed in running water to remove the alkaloids and then cook this seed, making it edible and ready for eating. So this seed can be used for eating. But it is not edible raw, which repels chipmunks; hence it is very good for use against them.
– Distinguishing Characteristics
The lupine plant can reach upto 1.5 meters in height. These plants have soft grey-green leaves coated in silvery hairs. These leaf blades are divided into five other leaflets, upto 28 leaflets (while in some species of this plant, the leaflets are reduced to only one).
– Propagation
They do not like being divided and transplanted. The best way to propagate these is by seed.
3. Purple Coneflower
Echinacea, or the purple coneflower, is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants belonging to the daisy family. These flowers are only found in eastern and central North America.
These plants grow in moist to dry planes and open wooded areas. Talking about growing these plants are best grown in poor or lean soil.
– Benefits
After conducting many laboratories and animal studies, it has been proven that the Echinacea plant has many beneficial qualities. For example, this plant has active substances known to boost the body’s immune function, relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and have hormonal, antiviral, and antioxidant effects.
– Uses
The echinacea plant – known as the purple coneflower – is categorized as a herbal medicine that has been in use for centuries by many tribes and civilizations. It has been used in the treatment of common colds and coughs. That is not all, and it has also been used to treat bronchitis, upper respiratory infections, and some inflammatory conditions in the human body.
– Distinguishing Characteristics
The Echinacea or the purple coneflower has a showy singular flower head at the top of each stem, with many drooping and pale-purple petal-like ray flowers that grow up to 3.5 inches each.
The flower as a whole is shaped like a purplish-brown disk, broad and shaped like a cone. The smell or fragrance of the purple coneflower makes it one of the plants that repel chipmunks and squirrels.
– Propagation
Use the seeds that form in the cones after the flowers have wilted. You can also propagate by cutting but only from a plant that is four years old.
4. Monarda
Monarda is a genus of flowering plants that belong to the mint family called Lamiaceae and are endemic to North America. This plant is known as bergamot, bee balm, horsemint, and oswego tea. The leaves’ fragrance, similar to the fruit bergamot orange, inspired the name bergamot for this plant.
– Benefits
The benefits of the Lamiaceae plant include it is a herbal remedy for a variety of ailments. It is a natural antiseptic that aids in solving digestive issues and bloating sore throats, and nausea.
– Uses
Lamiaceae, or Monarda (or even bee balm), as suggested by the name, can be used as a treatment for bee stings and curing rashes and wounds that are not that major.
Further uses include being used as an edible in salads, making herbal butter, making homemade ice cream, and using it in a cream cheese spread. The petals of this plant can also be used to dress up your fresh salad or fresh fruits.
– Distinguishing Characteristics
The outlook of the Monarda (or Lamiaceae) plant has an open, daisy-like shape with tubular petals in shades of red, purple, white, and pink, which add a cheerful and lovely factor visually to your garden.
Now, if we’re diving into facts and figures, this plant loves moist and rich soil in a sunny location. These plants range in height from 2.5 feet to 4 feet. However, some smaller varieties of this plant also exist, which are less than even 10 inches in height
– Propagation
These are usually propagated by division and cutting. However, you can propagate the bee balm by seed as well.
5. Hyssop
Hyssop, or the Hyssopus Officinalis, also belongs to the Lamiaceae mint family, native to the Middle East, Europe, and surrounding the Caspian sea.
– Benefits
The Hyssop, or Hyssopus Officinalis, the plant has many health benefits. The nutrients and essential oils present in this plant are rich in flavonoids and flavorful compounds that can serve as antioxidants.
What eating foods rich in flavonoids does is that it reduces the chances of encountering diseases related to old age, which include diseases like cataracts, heart disease, and strokes. Some further benefits are reduced risk of getting ulcers, help with Asthma, reducing your chances of getting cancer, and it also may come in handy in reducing inflammation.
– Uses
Looking at the history of this plant being used in the therapeutic area, a tea made from this plant (the truest and purest form of hyssop) has been used to treat coughs, earaches, and Asthma as bloating.
Furthermore, its uses also include being used for digestive and intestinal problems, curing infections that may occur in your body’s airways, poor blood circulation, treating skin problems, and treating some other conditions your body might face.
– Distinguishing Characteristics
Diving into the physical characteristics of this mint-like aromatic plant, it can grow up to only a height of a maximum of 1.5 feet. It is a small perennial plant having woody slim quadrangular stems. Its leaves are dotted and in the shape of an arrow, which is approximately 0.8 to 1.2 inches in length, and are usually grown in pairs around the stem of the flower.
The flowers on this plant are spikey, long, and leafy and usually blossom in the summer. Its mint-like fragrance categorizes this plant under the chipmunk-repellent plant’s list.
– Propagation
Hyssop is readily propagated by seed, cuttings, division and separation. Just remember to divide in the spring or fall.
6. Butterfly Bush
The scientific name for butterfly bush is buddleja. Buddleja is a genus that comprises over 140 species of flowering plants. This species is endemic to Asia, the Americas, and Africa. This plant belongs to the Scrophulariaceae family, and Linnaeus gave its generic name.
– Benefits
The buddleja or the butterfly bush plant is also sometimes called an invasive plant as these aren’t native and are known to spread out. But their spread can be controlled easily just by some minor pruning.
This plant’s benefits are that it is drought-tolerant and very easy to grow. For wildlife, this plant also serves as a food source. Another benefit is that it is drought-tolerant and can survive even in areas with fewer water sources. It also acts as a deer resistant species.
– Uses
The uses of this plant include solving problems such as liver, improving eyesight, removing nebula, and clearing heat. This plant is also used in making herbal tea, and it is also caffeine free!
Buddleja can also reduce high blood sugar levels in the body. The tea made from Buddleja contains vitamin C, which can be used to improve your skin, as vitamin C is good for your skin and healing wounds.
– Distinguishing Characteristics
This bush blooms from mid-summer to early fall. This bush has whiteish flowers that have orange or yellow centers. Butterfly bush grown in gardens is typically purple.
The buddleja, or the butterfly bush, has a height of up to 15 feet high. The leaves growing opposite each other on this bush are approximately five to 10 inches long and have jagged edges.
– Propagation
One of the easiest ways to propagate a butterfly bush is by using cuttings. Take them in the spring or summer.
7. Milkweed
Milkweed, or if we call it by its scientific name, then Asclepias, is a genus of herbaceous and perennial plants, aka, Milkweeds. Why was it named milkweed? Their latex, which is a milky substance that contains cardiac glycosides, was the whole reason. This plant’s genus contains around 200 plants, and most species are toxic to humans.
– Benefits
The benefits of milkweed or Asclepias are that it improves biodiversity in your neighborhood, as the relationship between caterpillars and butterflies is very complex. Another benefit of milkweed is that it can serve as a pest control against pests such as stink bugs etc.
Milkweed pods contain silk which can be utilized when it comes to absorbing contaminants in case an oil spill happens. Milkweed pods provide the human body with nutritional value as well, which includes fiber, Vitamin E, carotenoids, sterols, and unsaturated free fatty acids.
– Uses
Although consuming this plant raw may be potentially poisonous for humans, this plant has been known to be used in treatments and other medicinal purposes. Old tribes have used the sap from milkweed for wart removal, and treatment for dysentery has also been used on this plant by chewing the roots of this plant.
Other medicinal uses of this plant have been to treat rashes, and coughs, cure fevers and help with asthma problems people may have. But that is not it, this plant has also been used in food to add flavor to foods or even thicken soups.
– Distinguishing Characteristics
The physical characteristics of this plant are that it has fine hairs on the underside of its leaves which are soft and velvety. The leaves are mature and typically quite broad, having milky sap when the leaves or the stems are broken.
– Propagation
Milkweed can be propagated using seeds or cuttings. Cuttings should be places in potting soil and seeds are to be soaked and then placed in stratification mix.
Conclusion
Your garden is precious as you put a lot of effort into maintaining it. Using these plants can deter chipmunks from destroying your garden or ruining your flowers.
The following are the best plants for this purpose:
- Black-eyed Susan is a good way to prevent chipmunks from entering your garden.
- Butterfly bush is a good option as well.
- Purple coneflower is the third-best alternative.
All the above plants are good chipmunk deterrents and are very effective in keeping chipmunks away.
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