Black Ants

What do you do when you see black ants in the garden?

It could be a sign that there are mealy bugs nearby.

Take a look.

Do you see a tiny spider on the left side of the Red  Button Ginger?

It may take care of the ants when it eventually grows up.

Alternatively, we could wait for the praying mantis to finish up with the fly and proceed with the ants.

So, what do you do when you see black ants on the plants?

For me, I take out my camera.

Check out dearlittleredhouse for mosaics of all sorts.

Flowering Agave

My agave plants are flowering right now.

This is the first bloom after 2 1/2 years.

There are two of them flowering side by side at the same time.

It wasn't easy to take these photos as the flower stalk is very tall.
Further, they are growing in a planter which has been built on the wall.

My 10 year old neighbour noticed that I was struggling to take the photos and offered to climb up the wall to help get a better picture. For him, it was probably an opportunity to climb but I must admit this boy loves to help...just like the rest of his family. 

Actually, it would have been great if he could take some shots of the flower buds and pollens but I wasn't good with my instruction and the plant was very prickly.
In the end, I settled with the zoom feature.

This is how the baby agave looks like from the top view.

Black ants and paper wasp call this agave plant their home.