Old old old house has a few Eucalyptus trees, current home has a row of Pine trees (very sticky). They were planted as babies around 13 years ago. Today they are about 20-30 feet tall.
Eucalyptus Trees
Eucalyptus Trees have beautiful blue green foliage, and peeling bark that attracts the eye. The trees can provide year around coloor in warmer climates, providing yards with attractive colors while other trees are dormant. Also, as an added bonus this tree will grow in containers. If you live in the North plant this tree in a container and bring it indoors once the weather starts getting cold.
These trees have a sweet aroma that’s similar to mint, and pine, only sweeter. It feels your yard with a natural fresh scent, while naturally telling mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas to beat it. Each leaf has a pocket filled with eucalyptol, an organic pest repelling oil. It’s also an ingredient in many mouth washes, and cough drops. These trees will add unique beauty to your landscape and provide a fresh aroma indoors and out while keeping bugs at bay. Place a few leaves around your house, in window seals, shelves, and under your pet’s bed to keep bugs away.
Pinaceae
A naturally-occurring compound prepared from pine oil that seems to deter mosquito biting and repels two kinds of ticks has been found by Agricultural Research Service (
ARS) scientists.
A patent (US 7,378,557 B1) was issued on May 27 for the compound, isolongifolenone, and partners are being sought to bring this technology to commercial production.
Insect repellents are used widely to prevent bites from mosquitoes, sand flies, ticks and other arthropods. For the most part, people apply repellents just to avoid discomfort, but there is a more serious side to the use of these products. Human diseases caused by blood-feeding ticks and mosquitoes represent a serious threat to public health worldwide.
The Pinaceae (pine family) are trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces. The family is included in the order Pinales, formerly known as Coniferales. Pinaceae are supported as monophyletic by their protein-type sieve cell plastids, pattern of proembryogeny, and lack of bioflavonoids. They are the largest extant conifer family in species diversity, with between 220 and 250 species (depending on taxonomic opinion) in 11 genera, and the second-largest (after Cupressaceae) in geographical range, found in most of the Northern Hemisphere, with the majority of the species in temperate climates, but ranging from subarctic to tropical. The family often forms the dominant component of boreal, coastal, and montane forests. One species, Pinus merkusii, grows just south of the equator in Southeast Asia. Major centres of diversity are found in the mountains of southwest China, Mexico, central Japan, and California.
Personally prefer the smell of Pine trees over Eucalyptus Trees (have too many memories of Vick's vapor rub from the 1960's - grandma's remedy for any colds).
