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Steve, and all, Close to and during blooming, peonies have sweet nectar which attracts insects - particularly ants. I have grown peonies for many years and the ants are just a sort of package deal - if you have peonies, expect ants to show up as they get close to blooming. Some of the ants will bite if they get an opportunity. I've been bitten many times while working among the peonies in the garden. They go after anything that wanders onto the flowers. I have watched them put the run on spiders and wasps. I guess they are just being very territorial and protective of a food source. I checked online to see if there is supposed to be any more of a purpose other than attraction to nectar. Most sources said that it was once believed that the ants helped to remove the waxy nectar on the blooms so that they could open more easily, but that is generally dismissed as a myth. Bev Wigney Round Hill, NS (in summer) On 2012-06-04, at 4:50 PM, "Stephen R. Shaw" <srshaw@Dal.Ca> wrote: > Hi Bev, others: > What is so attractive about unopened 'peony' heads (spelling? - 'peonies' was what I was told they were, verbally)? I was recently in the country just south of Montreal and in a row of maybe 30 unopened heads on healthy plants, all were rife with highly active small sepsid flies (wing-wavers), which were being chased around both by small ants, and by some that were carpenter ant size. A few large visiting hornets were also being seen off by the larger ants. > > What are they all attracted to, or protecting? I looked for aphids that might be being herded, but didn't see any. A few heads nearby had opened recently but these new flowers seemed to have much less traffic. > Steve (Halifax) >
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