{"id":4458,"date":"2023-07-17T13:45:33","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T13:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whiteflowerfarm.com\/blog\/?p=4458"},"modified":"2023-07-17T13:48:29","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T13:48:29","slug":"antsy-about-ants-on-your-peonies-have-no-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whiteflowerfarm.com\/blog\/2023\/07\/17\/antsy-about-ants-on-your-peonies-have-no-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"Antsy About Ants on Your Peonies? Have No Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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“The Ant King Palace
opens its carmine door:
Peony in bloom.” <\/p>\n~Yosa Buson (1716-1784)* <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t take a scholar of 18th<\/sup>-century Japanese haiku to know that Peonies and ants often go together. Some of us encountered ants crawling on the rounded buds of Peonies when we were little, when bugs were \u201ccool.\u201d (In fact, this plant-critter connection was so fascinating to one precocious youngster that she became an entomologist.**) More of us, alas, approach the subject having experienced struggles removing the insects from our kitchen countertops. The idea of ants inhabiting one of the showiest of all garden flowers may, to some, seem a bit off-putting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is good news: Peonies and ants are a match made in heaven. This isn\u2019t because ants somehow encourage the buds of Peonies to open into magnificent bloom (a myth believed by some gardeners). Rather, ants and Peonies are an example of biological symbiosis. These hard-working bugs gain an early-season food source in the sweet, nutritious nectar that coats the exterior sepals surrounding each flower bud. On the flip side, Peonies benefit from ants, who defend their buffet from bloom-damaging insects such as aphids and thrips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This mutual relationship is far from an infestation (and certainly does not warrant insecticide). When the nectar is gone, the ants go home. The only concern arises when you want to cut some of your glorious Peony blooms for indoors. To avoid letting ants loose in your house:<\/p>\n\n\n\n