Before anyone considers deforesting their gardens I think we should step back and think. Even if EVERY gardener removed their beautiful flowers, who's going to tell the mosquitoes not to use ponds, swamps, and other bodies of water for breeding? Personally I don't want to be the one tasked with draining the swamps while the gators are picnicking.
I realize news reporters want people to be aware of the desease, and I know I don't want mosquito bites - with or without diseases involved - but there has to be some common sense applied. Removing bromelaids in the gardens is NOT going to remove natural places in trees, the "wild" bromelaids high in trees, and other plants that can hold water, and other standing water. Mosquitoes will simply find other places to lay their eggs and the issue of Zika or other diseases will not have been "fixed" in the least.
I wish reporters and their affiliates would stop and think things through before getting people all worked up. Yes, Zika is a potentially dangerous threat, as was yellow fever, malaria, and other diseases in our nation's past; but removing plants is not even a good band-aid for the problem; ripping out plants will not fix anything.
All that said, I am all for anything that keeps those little pests from biting! Thanks for the ideas with coffee... I hope to add it to my arsenal of herbs (especially ones that smell like lemon) to keep them at bay. We can not stop mosquitoes everywhere. Yes, controlling them in our gardens may be doable for our personal sanity, but the silliness of removing plants is just that - silliness.
