Ants and Peony

for those of you who have peony growing in your garden, you might have noticed that every spring ants gather and crawl over the buds. until just a moment ago, i thought these ants were necessary to initiate the opening of the flower. well, looks like that was a myth after a little research. the ants are attracted to peony buds because they have a sweet nectar resin on them that ants seem to enjoy tasting. there you have it. in one of the images, you can see the ant actually sampling some of the sweetness.