This morning I was using the lopper on various horrible messy weedy things trying to grow up to be trees among the more desirable flowers and bushes. I lopped off one of the plants I particularly dislike, and discovered the stem was thick with ants -- but almost all of them were dead. There were a few wandering around still living, but most had given up the ghost. Here is the scene of the disaster.
I don't know what this plant is, but I wonder if it contains something poisonous to the ants. Or...since it has a sticky (and stinky) quality to it, especially when cut, I wonder if they got stuck -- like flies on flypaper?
I'm putting a shot of one of the living plants (growing up among the irises and day lilies) in my Alternates album in the hopes that someone would recognize the plant and let me know what it is. http://365project.org/mcsiegle/alternates/2013-07-25
