They sound like fire ants to me. Just recently in the news our way, they say that ants are a real problem because of the wet weather and sudden warm weather. I plant around their mounds in the garden. I usually don't see them anymore in my garden after a month or so.

You could also try pouring hot (boiling) water on their mounds, but it might ruin plants near them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia on Fire ants

We apply diatomaceous earth around the perimeter of our house to discourage carpenter ants.

In the garden I found that the ants moved out when I began to cultivate and water an area around coniferous trees. There had been a huge ant colony there but ants don't like water so likely moved further from my garden. Recently I noticed a new colony at the base of a tree near my compost pile. Next time I turn the compost I'll water the ants as well as the compost and maybe they'll move on. I have also had them *in* a compost pile when I let it get too dry.

We don't have fire ants here but do have tiny red ones that bite.

Here is a link that might be useful: natural methods to get rid of ants

Thanks for the tips. I just walked into the back fields with the dogs and there are also huge ant hills back there. Guess I better do them too. No sense leaving those to multiply! Marg

Marg

I generally let ants be, unless they're in an inconvenient spot.

A few years ago there was a big ant hill right beside where I wanted to plant some flowers, so I poured boiling water on it, waited a while, dug a bit of it out, poured more boiling water, dug more out, and poured more boiling water. I figured I'd get to the bottom of the ants that way. Then I just filled in the hole with fresh soil. Worked like a charm =:)

Also, I put coffee grounds near a basement window last year as there were ants within about a foot and a half of so. I never found any ants in the basement. Of course, I'm not sure if they really wanted in or not =:)