RE: Ants

Will you get bitten by protective ants trying to harvest the seeds?  Will
you have to wear protective clothing?  It sounds like a good school project
to track the progress of the acacia and the arrival of protective ants, if
nothing else.  If you bought one, I imagine there would be at least a few
others who would want to purchase one from you.  It is pretty unique.

I read an article on plant intelligence recently.  It said a number of
plants send chemical messages when they are under siege by predators to call
for protective "back-up" (a more predatory insect) to come to defend it.  It
was pretty fascinating to think that plants could literally call for help,
so to speak.

Blessings,
Bonnie (SW OH - zone 5)

P.S. It rained most of the weekend and when it wasn't raining, there were
more pressing things to take care of.  No "real" gardening took place beyond
dashing out between storms to dead-head some of the plants.  We're
considering constructing an arc to rescue Donna!

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On Behalf
Of james singer
Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 3:46 PM
To: Chat
Subject: [CHAT] Ants

It's about 98 degrees outside, so I went out and turned the water on 
the Buddha's hand and other new plantings that are not under automatic 
irrigation. The "hand" is close to the bull's horn acacia [which has 
automatic irrigation] and I noticed that ants have discovered the 
bull's horn and probably colonized it. That's a good sign. The plant 
needs that relationship for protection from other insects.

It also dawned on me [duh] that the horns form at the base of leaves. I 
had some misguided idea that they were seed pods. Wonder how long it 
takes them to bloom? Wonder if I can grow them from seed? Wonder if I 
do, what I'll do with them?

Island Jim
Southwest Florida
Zone 10
27.0 N, 82.4 W

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