Native plants for a Cape Cod garden

In the wild kingdom that my kitchen has become with the onset of warm weather, I have come across more black ants than I seem to remember from last year, along with all kinds of spiders. The other day I caught a harvestman hitching a ride on my shoulder. Then I opened a cabinet to get a pan and there was a particularly black hairy one, a wolf spider I think. I closed the cabinet door quickly thinking if I left him there he might eat some ants for me. When I went back a day later he was still sitting in the pan. Turns out ants eat other bugs too, so not sure who will be the winner in that battle.

We have scores of ant hills in the yard (4,000–7,000 ants live in one colony, not sure how many colonies in the yard) but for the most part they stay out of my house thankfully. I had read one ant fan put sugar outside and she said it gave the ants less reason to come inside. Not sure how much this habit would cost, but I am not going to try it.

It’s funny, how in one hour of one day there are tons, the next hour there are none. I guess they got the message, as I threw most of them outside (at least the ones that I didn’t step on by mistake). Or maybe, after an exploratory outing, they are bringing back their friends, as ants forage for food and then leave scent trails for the rest of their buddies to show them where to find it. More incentive to clean my house.

One article I came across says that ants show a healthy ecosystem in your yard and will keep other pests in check. They disperse seeds to help plants grow. They aerate soil and recycle dead materials, including animals. Aside from these benefits to us, they do seem a lot more intelligent than you would think when you take the time to watch them for a few minutes. And so far, even with a few more ants than I am used to, I haven’t had any walk off with my dinner. I just won’t leave it out on the table.

Ants can be tricky to identify – the “ants of the North Quabbin” website is a helpful guide. We used it and found out that the ants in our yard are Formica subsericea. This is an ant species that is found in open woods and around the edges of woods. Workers forage for seeds and plant material mostly during the day – this is when we see them venture into our home. They gather seeds for the nutritious elaiosomes, aiding in seed dispersal. They also tend aphids for honeydew. Their colonies are large, with many entrances.