BTW while I was lifting up rocks in the steppe, the other day, I was surprised to find that each had a ant nest( not hill, since there were holes flat under the rocks). They are black leaf cutter ants ( beyond that... perfect NOIDs). The barren steppe dry as a pile of bones could be.. somehow managed to keep these critters happily provided in an environment VERY different from my garden just a few miles away!. I wonder on what they thrive since each one of the 9 rocks had a nest! Instead in my garden, red Argentine fire ants have taken over the same ecological niche. And I've got millions of them everywhere, in the borders, in the lawn, inside my house if... I let them in. They are gently reminded with spray over my doorstep and for some months decide for better. They are a nuissance in our organic greenhouses because they herd black aphids here thither... there they can not be sprayed directly so, if we find a hole near then they get some liquid straight into it. In my flower beds I very seldom spray stalks and stems when they are literally covered in black aphids. With the rest I pretend that I've not spotted them. Then the red army lieutenant switches to a different flower group and the sprayed plants are left alone for about two weeks. This is how we play the ecological/chemical war game in our farm...
wondering, that if ants thrive also because of the heat pump that is a sun-warmed rock that radiates heat later, would rock plants also benefit of thermal radiation by growing next to these rocks? Has any rock gardener discovered something along the thermal line ( I know I've been told not to deviate from the original content of the thread but....
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