Purple, every year I plant Marigolds...Our neighbor grows veggies each summer. She informed me Marigold kept certain insects away, so since then, Marigolds were planted in front, back and either sides of house.

Garlic is a deterrent. I use garlic in my home-made insecticide.
Good idea...I'll plant garlic in the garden this year. Is store-bought garlic okay or do I have to buy a special bulb? Never grew garlic.

When we moved here, mint invaded the front, back and sides of our house. Like a weed. It took years before ridding.
Wouldn't mind a couple, 'mint smells great,' but not surrounding the house. lol.

Never tried Thyme.

I've never seen ants in succulent mix, however, they manage to crawl on the table sux are placed during summer months.

Ants especially steer clear of Pachypodiums, Adeniums, and Optunias. Again, ants crawled on the shelf..

One plant ants like is Clivia.

Never saw an ant in my old Parlor Palm either. However, I gave PP to son for his iguanas house..Iggy, decided it was better to eat than look at. lol. Toni

I dunno that it's the plant, but rather the soil that ants like. I keep a few bonsai trees, and several succulents outside on my deck in summer. All are in gritty mix. Also, my wife gets hibiscus plants and several other annual types, and pots them in standard bagged soil. Ants take up residence in the pots with the soft, fluffy peat based soil, but go nowhere near the gritty mix plants. Anyways, my solution is to lay down a barrier of Raid Insect Barrier. Works every year!

Joe

Terro ant baits are very safe and effective. You can also mix a little boric acid (used as eye wash, so get it from your pharmacy) with honey, corn syrup, or imitation maple syrup, and put it in a bottle cap near wherever the ants are congregating. They'll find it and take it back to the hill/pot and it will wipe out the colony.

I think ants are opportunistic and show up wherever ...... I have had them in regular soils like the 5:1:1 mix, but never in the gritty mix, so that's something you might consider.

Al