Question
Hi Lynette, I live in Central Square, NY, in the fall I cut back my rose bush,covered it with mulch and set a plastic pail over it, because we get so much snow.  Today I peeked under the pail and the rose bush has green leaves starting to come up, but there are hundreds of little ants everywhere in the mulch!  Will they hurt my plant? How can I get rid of them? When should I take the pail off? Is it still too cold? This is my first rose bush in case you think I'm a nut:) Thank You, Toni

Answer
Ants aren't interested in roses they are quite happy making a home in the mulch. If you remove the mulch in a pail and dump it somewhere else the ants will grab the kids and go look for another place to make home. There are also insecticides which will kill the ants and will not hurt your rose. if you are not getting cold frosts during the day, in your area you could start to help the rose harden off buy removing the pail during the day and placing it on again for the night. Then at the end of this month take it off permanently. Spring weather can be weird and if the rose isn't toughened up, a nasty night frost could kill the tops of the canes.