We get Racoons every summer and they just sit on the deck and sing atleast that is all I've seen but we have and electric gizmo plugged in, had a good hunting male dog, bars of soap, Critter Ridder, and Bouganvilla and Pyracanthia bushes all around the fence plus lots of cactus and they still came in.. Sunday at the Zoo we saw goats eating cactus prickles and all so if animals want to get in that's all there is but a scare crow using some smelly clothes would make whatever think there was someone present and probably stay away. Racoons can carry rabies and have a nasty bite and my hubby used to stand outside and talk to them and they get pretty close and that just worried me a bit. But this is Ca. and the animals are rapidly losing their source of food and homes so who knows what will come next. We live in the city with plenty of close neighbors and had a bobcat in the backyard and you can hear coyotes all summer long at night. So I can't imagine a plant or chemical that can work against the visitors. Most electronics are set like at the Zoo to keep the animals in the enclosure..

There are two gingers from my garden that kinda look alike at this stage. Most likely you're talking about Red Ginger - Alpinia purpurata. I was told it is called Torch Ginger but that is the common name of a different plant. All of the Alpinia gingers have that super spicy fragrance to their leaves. I don't know of any problems using the leaves for food or fragrance. The variegated Shell Ginger is also an Alpinia (Alpinia zerumbet). The other possibility is that you're smelling the smaller Cardamom ginger which has the same sort of smell to its leaves. It is Elettaria cardamomum and should only be a little over a foot tall. The Red Gingers were babies when I got them and they grew quite a bit in that garden over the summer so they ended up about the same size which adds to the confusion, they will end up around 3 feet tall if kept in a container.

Racoons are they worst, frankly, and they are cunning. There is no way to stop them other than trapping, killing, large, aggressive dogs or electric fence. The fence can be fairly cheap depending on size (some are battery operated), but I doubt that's possible in a rental. I'm sorry! I hate them, too (and used to think they were cute). Here is a link that might be useful: One example of an electric fence

There was a PBS Nature feature on urban raccoons - fascinating. These creatures need no woody or natural situation. They are very easily and happily adapted to even very heavily populated urban environments, living in attics, garages, storage sheds or nesting in hollow parts of trees. As far as moving on when there is "nothing to attract them" - that is just wishful thinking. These guys are scavengers - garbage cans, dumpsters, vegetable gardens, pet food bowls left outside - these form a never ending, all-you-can-eat banquet. Normal fences will not even slow them down - they can travel vertically just as easily as they travel laterally. And there are no real repellants I have ever heard of that work. Electrifying a fence or wire or completely covering the pond is really your only viable solution. Even predators are not entirely effective. Raccoons will avoid dogs if not cornered but if cornered, they are vicious fighters and spread serious diseases if not inflicting fatal wounds. As for cats......it is not usual to see 'coons and cast sharing the same food dish :-) Here is a link that might be useful: PBS - 'Raccoon Nation'