Awesome Things About Ants

Hello Everyday Gardener readers. Welcome to Livin’ Thing. As you can see, I’ve renamed my blog and successfully transported my past posts, and you, to this lovely new space where I plan to write about gardening, of course, but also all sorts of other livin’ things, including humans. Rest assured, though,that I do not plan to write about dieting, as a neighbor friend feared when she misread my new blog title as Livin’ THIN. Ha! No.

No, for this post I’d like to talk about ants. As a Master Gardener, I often volunteer to answer questions at our booth at various events, like the State Fair and farmers markets. People ask about all sorts of different things, but mostly they want to know how to kill stuff: gophers, moles, voles, rabbits and bugs of all types, especially ants. People really seem to hate ants, and I don’t get that because, with the exception of horrors like fire ants, they are actually quite beneficial, harmless and fascinating to watch. Also, I’ve seen the movie A Bug’s Life too many times to count and, well, if that doesn’t change your perspective on ants, nothing will.

A little ant feeling like King of the Moss World! Credit: Flagstaffotos_Wikimedia

But let me try. Here are just a few reasons why ants should be considered friends rather than pests to get rid of:

They are Fun and Interesting to Watch
My husband Mike and I spend quite a bit of time watching ants while drinking wine and eating supper in the backyard. Sometimes we conduct “experiments” to see what they’ll do. Like the time we put a small dollop of hummus on a low table and watched as one ant found it and took a teeny tiny bit back to the colony. Within minutes a long line of ants was marching up the table leg from a crack in the patio, each one gathering a portion of hummus nearly too small for us to see before carrying it back down the table leg to the colony below. On and on they went, and we imagined them putting a call out underground that went something like: “OMG, you would not BELIEVE what we found out there, you guys!” By morning, almost all of the hummus was gone, but there were still a few ants working to get every last bit. We hope they enjoyed it. Also, further totally unscientific testing revealed those ants preferred mashed potatoes over hummus if given the choice.

They Till and Improve the Soil
Much like earthworms, ants are really good at tilling soil. All of that tunnel digging and anthill building aerates soil, making it easier for water to penetrate while also redistributing nutrients. Sure, anthills can be a bit unsightly and even damaging to plant roots if there are a bunch of them in one spot. But remember that those hills protect the colonies below from flooding caused by rain and sprinklers.

Adding on? Credit: iStock

They Help Keep Pests At Bay
Many ants feed on a variety of insects, including their eggs and larvae, helping to keep problem pests that plague gardens and lawns at bay. While this work isn’t always obvious, it’s impossible to miss ants crawling around on peony buds in the summer. Rather than doing harm, the ants are there for the sweet, sticky nectar that peony blooms secrete, and their presence keeps those not-yet-open buds safe from destructive bugs. Contrary to popular myth, though, peonies don’t need ants’ help to open. Those flowers manage that just fine on their own.

Ants just checking out some aphids. Credit: Wikimedia

They Help Spread Seeds
It looks like ants are always busy, and they are. One of their many jobs is to carry certain seeds that are rich in fats back to the nest. The fat is fed to hungry larvae and the rest of the seed, which is not damaged, gets tossed out someplace where it can grow. A few ant favorites are: bleeding heart, violets, trout lilies, trillium and Dutchman’s breeches.

A version of this post first appeared in the November 2017 issue of Northern Gardener Magazine.