glad they're not in your pants....the title was alarming!

Soak the pots, then lift out the plants and remove any ant nests at the base. Stand the pots up on bricks, and wipe them every month or so with eucalyptus oil to repel another invasion. A ring of pepper around the pot will also help deter the ants.

If that fails to get rid of the ants, you'll need to repot using fresh potting mix. Remove the plant, soil and oil, and thoroughly wash off all the soil (along with any ant eggs etc). Then thoroughly wash out the pot, using a small dash of bleach in the final rinse.

Thos black small ants are harmless but I, myself, find them annoying.

Thanks! I'll do it this weekend. I assume, dear Daisy, that you mean red pepper flakes. Or would black ground pepper do the same trick?
And now it's off to fight the mighty snails that are making swiss cheese out of my mint....
batya

Snails like mint?

It's a never ending battle, isn't?

Yup, try washing the plant and then setting up a something around so the ants cant get to it.

I mean black pepper.

Thanks, Daisy, black pepper it is.
Yes, t-bird, snails like mint. Little holes chewed in the leaves, they have no other critters/culprits on or around them. Snails, and their homeless cousins, slugs, like mint, basil, wormwood, and nearly every other thing I plant. They like the early shoots of pansies, any succulents, and any and all seedlings. Yup, chomped off at the nub, chewed right down to the stem, they are so far impervious to coffee, eggshells and anything else I can throw at them. Can't get Bt here, but next comes the death by beer experiment.
After the first of the month, I'm hopefully heading down to the professional gardener's store, to spend a little hard-earned. If I can find neem oil I'll get some for the very beginnings of whiteflies on the calendula, along with the well-under-way powdery mildew of same. Any other suggestions heartily welcome.........

If the pot is outside and the verbena is doing well, why harm the ants? The plant may actually be receiving some benefit from them.

You will be killing a whole society.

:o(

I used lemon verbena oil in a spray when we had a problem with ants invading our apartment in Mexico City. It worked like magic and all the ants decamped immediately to a new nest elsewhere. I had learnt this tip from an entomologist on the radio. Ants use scent to communicate and spraying scents like this disrupts their behaviour. I have always liked ants, so I didn't want to do anything that might harm them.