This Gorgeous Flower Doubles As The Mole-Repellant Your Garden Needs
There are many different animals you may never want to see in your garden but — if we had to guess — a mole that is digging tunnels and destroying the roots of all your plants is probably up near the top of the list. Plus, to make matters worse there are plenty of things you can do to accidentally attract moles to your yard and, once you have them, they are quite difficult to get rid of. While incredibly annoying, most people would prefer not to have to kill a mole. So, how can you humanely convince the little buggers to leave your garden alone?
Luckily, there's a beautiful flower that can do just that, and it's none other than the lovely daffodil. Daffodils are not only beautiful flowers that indicate the coming of spring but are also excellent mole deterrents due to a nefarious secret: these innocent-looking flowers are quite toxic. In fact, the entire daffodil plant including its roots and bulb contains a chemical called lycorine which is poisonous to all animals and can cause nausea and vomiting in humans. The toxic chemical (and possibly the scent of the flower) causes the moles to avoid tunneling under daffodils and move on to dig elsewhere.
How to repel moles with daffodils
Unfortunately, simply adding a few daffodils to your yard won't be enough to protect your entire garden. So, how can you strategically use these gorgeous flowers to keep these fuzzy yard-tunnelers away?
As it turns out, the best way to deter moles with daffodils is to create a barrier of flowers around your garden or yard. This involves planting the flowers in a fence-like perimeter around the area you'd like to protect. This way the mole won't simply be able to tunnel around the toxic bulbs and will need to choose somewhere else to go. The best thing about this solution is that daffodils are perennials meaning that they come back every year and you won't need to annually replant your mole-defense line. Furthermore, these beautiful flowers are quick-growing and are often some of the first flowers to pop up in spring — one of the times when moles are most active.
If you want to mix up your daffodil perimeter, you can try adding in some marigolds because they also deter moles by releasing a chemical called pyrethrin which kills worms (a mole's main food source). For vegetable gardens, you can also try planting garlic to repel moles as they dislike the smell.