Could be aphids, that would explain the ants. A sharp spray of water every few days should keep them in check.

tj

Would that not damage the flowers?

I'm not going to RECOMMEND any insecticide, but I do use a select few myself, and am very careful about what, where, and how I use them. In your two photos I can for sure identify one ant, and no aphids. Ants farm aphids on plants. the aphids suck the plants sap, and secrete a very sweet liquid material that the ants use as food. If the aphids kill a plant, the ants will literally carry the aphids to another suitable plant and establish a colony there. If you kill all the ants, and then kill all the aphids, generally neither will return to the plant. The best way, I believe, is to trace the ants back to their nest and kill them there. If that is not possible, trace them back to the entry point into the house or room, and apply a poison there that will poison their food supply. I use an insecticide that the ants will take back to the nest and place it in their food supply inside the nest, where the insecticide poisons the entire food supply and kills everything that eats from that food. Workers, drones, and queen, all gone, almost overnight and usually all the poison is removed from the structure and placed in the nest where all the ants eat and perish.

Seeing no aphids in your photos, I think I would take a closer look for some other insect as your problem. You can kill the ants, and if you find something other than aphids, then you can deal with them, but I am wondering if your insect problem and your ant problem are really associated with each other.

Bill

Thanks Bill