Creating a stunning flower garden is a rewarding experience but when you find out it has been used as a cat litter box it could be the least rewarding thing ever! However, one option is to create a cat-repellent flower garden by planting fragrant flowers that keep cats away.
Cats might make you want to scream but we all know they can cause damage and create havoc in your flower garden! Thankfully, there are many fragrant flowers that repel cats and other unwanted visitors.
Not only do these fragrant plant varieties have strong scents that drive cats and other unwanted guests away; they also help attract beneficial pollinators to your flower gardens!
In this article, we will provide you with a list of 19 popular plants that are effective at driving away cats, plus examples of how to create your own cat-proof flower gardens using essential oils and homemade sprays.
Understanding Cat Behavior
Why Are Cats Attracted To Plants?
Hunting/Exploration: Cats are inquisitive animals and love to explore their surroundings. They may be seen batting at or chewing on leaves or digging in the dirt while engaging in their playful activity.
Sensory Stimulation: Some plants produce an aroma or have a texture that can be attractive to cats. While other plants can repel cats because of their strong scent.
Food: Cats will eat grass and other green matter to help with digestion. The plant’s fiber induces the vomiting response, allowing them to remove the indigestible items, like hairballs, that cause distress during digestion.
Environment: Hiding places give a feeling of safety to a cat when alone; where they can safely hide is often found in flower beds under the shade of bushes.
Common Cat Behaviors In Gardens
Digging: Sometimes cats dig in garden beds because they are curious, or because it is part of their play. Sometimes, however, they dig because they are using it as their toilet!
Scratching: Anyone who has had a cat knows that they love scratching! Cats do this to mark territory, sharpen their claws, and stretch their muscles. Garden plants and trees make ideal scratching posts, especially if they are rough!
Chewing: Some cats will munch on plants out of curiosity or to get a bit of fiber. If you want to do a bit of cat-friendly gardening, you need to know what is safe for them and what is toxic.
Playing: They may just be playing! They might pounce on plants, or catch insects that are on them. It is a great game to them, sadly not so good for your flowers!
R&R: Cats cannot resist a good doze! Gardens have some great comfy sunny spots for lounging about.
How To Use Fragrant Plants Effectively To Keep Cats Away
Using fragrant plants effectively in your garden, especially if you have cats lurking around, requires strategic planning and thought on the part of both your plants’ benefits and your feline buddies’ harm. Here are some things to ask yourself:
Strategy: Ask yourself these questions:
- What parts of your garden do you want to keep cats away from?
- What type of area is it?
- Flowers
- Vegetables
- Herbs
- Seating area
- How busy will it be?
Answering these will help you select the right plants. If it’s a high use area you want to avoid scents you don’t like, the scaredy cat plant or the curry herb plant for instance. Planting pleasing aromatic plants like rosemary or lavenders is preferable if they are going to be frequently brushed past.
Companion Planting: mix appealing aromatic plants that repel cats with those that attract beneficial insects. Planting lavender with giggle scented marigolds for instance.
Border Plants: put fragrant herbs, flowers or shrub cover plants along the edge of your garden or flower bed creating a barrier which is less desirable for them to enter.
Essential Oils & Sprays: fortify your garden defense with fragrant oils and sprays. Mix peppermint or lavender oil, or any citrus with water in a spray and blanket the designated areas.
Cat-Friendly Gardening Tips
Another option is to create a safe haven for cats in your garden where they can lounge and play. That way, they’ll hang out in that spot and leave your flower garden alone!
- Choose cat-friendly plants in that area so they don’t accidentally eat anything toxic. Catnip and cat grass are good choices!
- Include climbing spots and scratching posts.
- Provide shelter
Tips For Safe Cat Repellent Gardening
- Placement: Position around the perimeter of your garden, borders, and flower beds in vulnerable areas that you know your cat frequents.
- Combination: Use mixing plants for increased power in your cat repelling strategy.
- Maintenance: Regular pruning and care.
- Safety: Ensure none of the plants are toxic to cats or humans.
19 Cat Repellent Plants
Here are our top 19 plants that cats don’t like:
1. Citronella
| Scientific Name | Pelargonium citrosum |
| Scent | Lemon geranium |
| Other uses | Excellent mosquito repellent |
The citronella plant produces a powerful citrus-smelling oil that many cats dislike. The oil of the citronella plant acts as an insect repellent due to its strong scent. Citronella belongs to the same family of plants (e.g. Geraniums).
You may want to use citronella as a natural method for preventing your cat from visiting certain parts of your garden.
The citronella oil also has benefits beyond repelling cats; it can also prevent other bugs from invading your yard during the summertime. I grow many pots of citronella on my balcony and patio to help keep bugs away!
2. Lemongrass
| Scientific Name | Cymbopogon spp. |
| Scent | Citrus |
| Other uses | Insect repellent, Culinary |
Although lemongrass is used in cuisines all around the world, it is also good for keeping cats at bay.
It works as an insect repellent too. The plant and its scent and extract are widely used in toiletries such as soaps, shampoos, and cosmetics.
A useful little plant to have in any garden.
3. Lavender
| Scientific Name | Lavandula |
| Scent | Herbal, floral, sweet |
| Other uses | Ornamental, essential oils, medicine, people pleaser! |
Lavender is a popular plant with many benefits!
Lavender not only looks pretty but also acts to repel cats from the area. Add some of these to your flower beds!
Furthermore, lavender is commonly found in personal care, cosmetic and fragrance products. If you have finished trimming the flowering stems, try drying them inside your home; they create a pleasant aroma throughout your house!
4. Rosemary
| Scientific Name | Salvia rosmarinus |
| Scent | Herbal, camphor, pine, citrus |
| Other uses | Culinary, people pleaser! |
I love cooking with rosemary and have made a lot of wonderful dishes using it: Roasted Cherry Tomatoes with Rosemary; Focaccia (garlic & rosemary); Potatoes Sautéed in Rosemary.
Also, did you know that it is one of the plants you can use to keep your cat from coming into your yard? Rosemary is a Mediterranean Herb that loves the sunshine and heat, and it can be grown in pots if you need to bring it indoors during the winter, which can be a great option.
5. Lemon Thyme
| Scientific Name | Thymus citriodorus |
| Scent | Citrus, herbal |
| Other uses | Culinary, insect repellent |
As a low-growing herb, lemon thyme is an ideal choice for use as ground cover or as a border plant at the front of your garden beds.
This aromatic herb repels cats, making it an excellent choice for deterring them from roaming too close to your garden.
In addition to keeping the cats away, growing lemon thyme will provide you with fresh herbs to use in cooking! And it’s a favorite of pollinators, so what’s not to love?
6. Oregano
| Scientific Name | Origanum vulgare |
| Scent | Camphor, aromatic |
| Other uses | Culinary |
Oregano is also another wonderful herb to grow in the kitchen. You can grow oregano either in the garden bed or in containers, which makes it suitable for all types of gardens.
Also, like all of the herbs mentioned above, the strong smell of oregano serves to deter cats from wandering into your flower garden and establish residence there.
7. Lemon Balm
| Scientific Name | Melissa officinalis |
| Scent | Citrus |
| Other uses | Insect repellent, Culinary |
Another herb that attracts beneficial pollinating insects and keeps pesky cats away is lemon balm. Cats typically do not like the smell of lemon balm (like lemon thyme), so the scent is enough to deter them from coming too close to.
This herb grows best in shady places. Therefore, it is perfect for growing anywhere in your garden that does not receive full sun light all day. Growing the lemon balm in a spot that receives morning sunlight but has afternoon shade would work very well.
In addition to being a repellent for cats, lemon balm is also used in a lot of cooking and is used as an infusion in tea making.
8. Geranium
| Scientific Name | Pelargonium |
| Scent | Citrus, fruit, rose |
| Other uses | Ornamental, beautiful flowers, keeps bugs away |
Geraniums are a great way to repel cats! They offer an intense aroma that repels many people, just like it does cats. People have very different opinions regarding this smell. So be careful about how many you plant, because you may not enjoy them all that much!
There are numerous types of geraniums available to choose from and many geraniums will produce large, colorful, beautiful flowers that you will be proud to show off, and they will help keep the cats from your backyard!
9. Scaredy Cat Plant
| Scientific Name | Coleus caninus |
| Scent | Pungent! Skunk, urine |
| Other uses | Ornamental, strong odor so strategic planting necessary, deters other unwanted visitors |
This excerpt suggests the plant has a horrible odour that causes cats, dogs, rabbits, and other nuisance animals to avoid the area.
The fragrance becomes stronger when leaves are damaged or brushed against.
The plant is rare and can therefore tolerate almost any location. Its pungent smell, like skunk, makes strategic plantings ideal!
10. Curry Herb Plant
| Scientific Name | Helichrysum italicum |
| Scent | Curry, sage |
| Other uses | Culinary uses, essential oils |
To further explain, this doesn’t refer to curry powder production, but rather the plant called “curry tree” which produces a leaf used in dishes from the country of India.
The curry herb, a slightly green/golden colored type of herb is an edible herb that can be consumed as food but is also grown primarily for its ornamental qualities, such as its beautiful silver spikes.
The curry herb produces a very strong smelling scent that most cats dislike, making the curry herb an excellent candidate for keeping interfering or troublesome cats away from your herb garden.
As with all types of plants, be sure you are comfortable with the scent before deciding to plant this herb, and remember when growing this herb, you may want to consider placing it in a pot for easy transport to find out if it is right for your home.
11. Common Rue
| Scientific Name | Ruta graveolens |
| Scent | Musty, light citrus |
| Other uses | Ornamental, insect repellent, |
Most cats hate the musty smell of common rue.
Common rue is a lovely blue-green shrub with small flowers that are white, yellow, and pink in colour. Common rue is a good herb to grow, as it grows easily and does well in poor soil.
CAUTION:
You should know that common rue has always been considered toxic to people and other animals when ingested in large amounts. This plant has been used in medicine and cooking; however, it is no longer recommended due to the toxicity of the leaves.
When you process the leaves of common rue, they are very oily, so you should wear gloves when working with them or you may experience skin irritation.
12. Roses
| Scientific Name | Rosa |
| Scent | Floral |
| Other uses | Lots! Including ornamental, potpourri, medicine, culinary |
Roses can deter cats from visiting an area, which is not due to their scent but rather that their thorny bushes create a non-friendly environment!
You can plant them in such a way as to prohibit cats that prefer to roam freely outside to roam in and through your garden areas..
13. Coffee Plants
| Scientific Name | Coffea arabica |
| Scent | Jasmine |
| Other uses | Ornamental, Culinary |
The coffee plant is not an ideal choice for growing if you own cats. Cats that ingest coffee beans or any part of the coffee plant carry a risk of potentially fatal poisoning, so it is important to take care not to plant them in areas where cats have access.
The coffee plant has an attractive appearance with its glossy green leaves and pretty white blossoms. Its function as a flowering plant is short-lived the flowers form into clusters of small green berries, which will eventually turn bright red when fully ripe; inside each berry is a coffee bean.
15. Sweet Mock Orange
| Scientific Name | Philadelphus coronarius |
| Scent | Citrus |
| Other uses | Ornamental, people pleaser! |
Mock Orange, which is a shrub that can reach heights around 10 feet (3.04 m), should be given plenty of room to grow before planting them.
They produce beautiful, showy white flowers arranged in clusters on their stems, creating an appealing visual impact in the garden along with the fact that their flowers have a strong fragrance that helps keep cats away.
They are excellent plants to both attract pollinators and repel cats simultaneously.
16. Orange Jessamine
| Scientific Name | Murraya paniculata |
| Scent | Orange, jasmine |
| Other uses | Ornamental, small, humans love the smell! |
If you are looking for an aromatic barrier to keep your cats away, Orange Jessamine would make an excellent border shrub.
It has lovely white blossoms with long petals that bend back toward the stem. The fragrance of these flowers is a combination of jasmine and orange it smells wonderful to humans but not so much to cats!
17. Mexican Orange
| Scientific Name | Choisya |
| Scent | Citrus |
| Other uses | Ornamental, attracts pollinators, people enjoy it! |
Shrub varieties of plants that repel felines, yet they attract a multitude of wildlife, including butterflies and other pollinators.
This shrub can reach heights of 10 feet (3.04m) and widths to match. It is best located in a protected area of the garden.
These shrubs have small white star-shaped flowers, and the entire plant will emit a citrus scent when the foliage is bruised. Felines definitely dislike this plant.
18. Pennyroyal
| Scientific Name | Mentha pulegium |
| Scent | Mint, spearmint |
| Other uses | Medicine |
Pennyroyal is a plant of the mint family that effectively keeps cats away from its downward-facing spearmint scent.
There are two types of this species: European and American. There are some differences between the two species, but both produce a minty fragrance.
The European variety has been known to spread very quickly like other mints’, so planting in containers may give you more control of its growth.
CAUTION:
The use of this plant for herbal medicines and remedies dates back to antiquity, but in today’s world, we now understand that plant oils can be harmful to both man and beast.
As such, when you choose your growing location(s) for this plant, the very best practice is to choose carefully.
19. Japanese Cheesewood
| Scientific Name | Pittosporum tobira |
| Scent | Sweet, citrus |
| Other uses | borders (hedges), ornamental, nice smell to humans! |
This plant is great to use as borders or fragrant hedging, and it can also form trees from the dwarf varieties described above.
The plant is indigenous to Japan and Eastern Asia, although it will grow in a variety of areas around the world.
The flowers are found in clusters along the ends of the branches, and are shaped like long white or cream-colored petals. The flowers are supposed to smell sweetly citrusy, and they are said to have an unpleasant smell for cats!