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Clear skies. Low 63F. Winds light and variable.

A Boston fern may add a nice touch of green to your porch, but it won’t keep the mosquitoes away.

A Boston fern may add a nice touch of green to your porch, but it won’t keep the mosquitoes away.

I was asked a very simple question the other day. I hope the answer doesn’t have me facing a firing squad.

The question was, “Do Boston ferns repel mosquitoes?”

The answer was a simple, “No.” If I would end my column with that, retailers wouldn’t send a posse out looking for me.

Mosquitos normally don’t bother me much. They prefer my wife’s blood over mine. There is a scientific reason for this. It all depends on how much carbon dioxide you emit.

If you are pregnant or overweight, there is a good chance that you are one of their favorite targets. It has also been shown that people with Type O blood are attacked twice as much as people with Type A.

Only the female mosquito attacks you. The males are gentlemen and leave you alone.

Here comes the killer. You walk into a big box garden center and see signs claiming that a plant repels mosquitoes. This is misleading information. There is no plant or scented candle that repels mosquitoes. There are plants like citronella or lemon-scented geraniums that, if you purchase it and squash the leaves and rub the oil on yourself, might work. Just placing the plant beside your chair won’t do a thing.

The best repellent is Deet. And those high frequency sonic mosquito repellents have no effect on repelling mosquitos at all. They are being charged with false advertising.

The best defenses against mosquitoes are: staying inside, a fly swatter and changing your blood type.

Although ferns are not good at repelling anything, they do make an easy-care hanging basket for your porch or garden area. Mom will be very happy to receive one for Mother’s Day.

I have noticed that people don’t pay much attention to the growing conditions ferns like.

They prefer a shady location, or filtered sunlight. Placing them in direct sun will burn the leaves or they’ll turn yellow.

Another easy thing about ferns, they don’t need a ton of fertilizer. Applying a slow release fertilizer a couple of times during the season, and perhaps a liquid fertilizer a few times, should do the trick.

The main concern with ferns is the amount of water you give them. They are not drought tolerant. Daily watering is a must. I wouldn’t hang the thing so high that you need a bucket truck to reach it.

A lot of times, the top foliage gets so huge it shades out the bottom leaves, and they turn yellow. Just remove the yellow leaves at the soil line.

Some folks have a problem with Mrs. Robin building her nest in their basket. This would not be a problem with me, because I like birds. I’d probably sit my chair beside the nest, and give the robin some encouraging words while she is sitting on the eggs. Just think of all the photos you could post on Facebook of her and the kids.

The minor problem is, like the rest of us on this earth, they poop. The robin sits on the nest for two weeks before the eggs hatch, and there’s another two weeks of feeding the kids. Yes, it’s a mess, but it only lasts a month.

Ferns can be brought inside for the winter, but if you hated cleaning bird poop, you are not going to enjoy picking up all of the leaves that fall off every day.

Other animals may make nests in them as well.

I never asked them, but I wonder if my ducks would have liked them?

Make your space a green space.

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