Rue is a short-lived perennial plant with odoriferous blue-green leaves that look like ferns and produces clusters of tiny yellow flowers that attract parasitic wasps, butterflies, and other pollinators. Rue repels aphids, flea beetles, onion fly larvae, slugs, and snails making rue an excellent companion plant.
Here are a few crops you could plant along with your rue.
1. Onions
Alliums, such as onions, make great companion plants. They help to keep pests from infesting and destroying crops.
Similarly, rue can stave off certain insects. Onion flies are responsible for rolled-up leaves and rotting in onions. Rue can protect your onions from onion fly larvae damage. Because of the odor, onion flies will look for another location to lay their eggs.
2. Roses
Rue and roses work very well together. The rue helps keep aphids away from your rose bush. Even rue’s dried leaves can be used to repel pests from your rose plant. Another advantage of cultivating both plants close together is the magnificent color combination they offer to the garden, as the blue-hued leaves of the rue give a nice contrast to the rose.
3. Figs
Rue plants originated in the same part of the world as fig trees; therefore, they need similar growing conditions. Rue keeps insects and pests like aphids and fruitflies at bay. Rue can grow in poor soil and is only 12 inches tall; it is perfect for filling up empty spaces under the fig tree, where some plants can’t grow.
4. Raspberries
Rue attracts pollinators and predatory insects with its attractive foliage and blooms. This ability to attract predatory insects helps protect your raspberries from pests like aphids, snails, beetles, and slugs. Japanese beetles can completely devastate your raspberry patch and leave you no harvest. Rue keeps these pesky insects away.
5. Lavender
Lavender attracts many beneficial and nectar-feeding insects. When planted beneath or near fruit trees, it also repels codling moths and protects surrounding plants from pests like whiteflies. Lavender and rue require similar growing conditions because they both have Mediterranean origins.
6. Wild Strawberries
Wild strawberries have smaller and distinctly flavored fruits. They make good groundcover and spread quickly, but they are susceptible to pest infestations. Rue can be grown among wild strawberries to repel pests such as snails. Furthermore, its blossoms attract pollinators to your strawberry patch, boosting fruit production.
