Question
we have a small yard. 1 year old swedish columnar aspen trees. notice that the leaves are chewed in some areas, and ants on the branches and truck of the trees.. how do i get rid of them and our these ants the reason why my aspen look terrible

Answer
The ants are more than  feeding on a substance called honeydew--the problem is an insect either an aphid. These suck the plant juices from the plant and secrete a substance called honeydew-which is high in sugar content and skicky. The ants are gathering this as food. The aphid caues the leavea to curl. Since the tree is samll I would spray the foliage with an insecticide called Orthene. Make sure you wet all the foliage on both sides of the leaves. This will kill the aphids and the ants will go away. Check with your locla garden tyep store for this product.