Compounds in the leaves of the American beauty berry plant (Callicarpa americana) apparently help ward off biting insects.

Here’s hoping they find a way to turn this into a product. Anything has to be better than citronella spray. Yech.

Speaking of natural remedies, if you apply the juice from jewel weed (Impatiens capensisto) a fresh mosquito bite, it won’t swell up or itch.

I mention jewel weed in my novel.

Dean’s driveway was so narrow that tree branches whipped the side of Maisey’s car as we drove in. I noticed the piles of brush I’d helped him move off of it after the ice storm were half-hidden now by brambles and, in the wetter places, tall pale clumps of jewel weed.