Artemsia 'Powis Castle'
Down at our getaway cabin, for 2 years now, we have been pouring can after can of wasp killer on nests they seem to build over and over again on the east side of our front porch. They build under the metal roof in the rafters and underneath ledges of the bench we have there. The stuff kills them but they rebuild there.
I read somewhere on the net Wormwood (Artemisea) https://www.gardenia.net/plant/artemisia-powis-castle is a
natural repellent for wasps. So I bought a Artemisia "Powis Castle", as I've never seen it in a nursery before. It rained last night, so it's more green and less dusty looking in this photo. 
It is doing nicely at this corner of the
porch with watering every other week for the past month. At last check, not a single
nest was constructed on that end of the veranda, but THREE were built on
the other end. Could it
be they no longer like the east end of the veranda because of my new plant addition?
Or is it coincidence? I'm going to assume that is indeed the plant repels wasps and will try to propagate
6-7 more plants this fall (optimum time) to see if we can keep them off
the porch entirely.
Fast forward: 2 weeks later, returned to the cabin to find NO NEW WASP NESTS on the veranda roof at either end! I think this stuff really repels wasps! So I plan to propagate enough to place/plant out around
the perimeter of the entire cabin (very small cabin). Another forum tells me it roots easily in water.
As a test, I brought the potted plant back to the city for 2 weeks to see if the wasps again build in their preferred veranda spot. That way I should pretty much KNOW whether it is the plant or sheer coincidence. I don't mind wasps, they have garden benefits, but I don't want them buzzing ME on the front veranda where we sit in the evenings. 
One stung my husband last week.
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