Someone on the town crew was out with the boom flail mower, mowing on the sides of the road. Ostensibly, it’s to keep the drainage channels clear and to reduce plants from reaching out into the road. Guy mowed my entire front row of ferns, skipped some lilies, then mowed down my flowering and decorative grasses. At one point, he must have lifted the boom to avoid an Iris, but then brought it back down on another flowering grass in the middle of my front gardens. They’ll survive, but my front garden is going to look destroyed for a few weeks at least while they recover.
In more positive news, we had some friends and their son visit on Sunday. My wife took the other ladies around to walk in the gardens at one point while I was cooking - I found out later that we’re part of the inspiration for some folks who are looking to start a sober living space!
In my experience, the ants that nest in our pots tend to favor the species we let have dry periods between waterings - in other words, our driest pots. If we can get the ants out of the picture, the aphids will lose their defenses and your predators can have a field day.
One method we’ve had some success with is submersion in water, using medium to large storage totes depending on the size of the pots. The tunnels flood and sometimes collapse, and you can flush them out.
Something else you could use is diatomaceous earth, which is generally available in garden and hardware stores. Make sure to liberally coat the soil surface and stem, and try to dust the aphids as well. Don’t inhale it. You’ll need to reapply it whenever it gets wet, so I’d recommend bottom watering whatever you can - I have a few small (1m x .3m) rubber boot trays I use for that. Something to note is that the DE is a broad-spectrum tool, so it won’t discriminate between the ants, aphids, or the predatory insects.