joanie_pomseed,
"Most of those people were ignorant of ecology and didn't deserve that kind of respect. I should have exercised my own mind".
One should always exercise one's own mind.
"There's no fool like an old fool". There is the best reason for not trusting a person merely because (s)he is old(er).
But we were not all ignorant of ecology!!! Go and read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. You will learn much from it.
Try, if you have the imagination and will, to live in a world without the lens and consequently, the camera, microscope and computer; then 'Google" Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632 to 1723) and appreciate the focus, tenacity and ethics of 'those people' (your words). Read and marvel over the Microbe Hunters in the book of the same name by Paul de Kruif. And there are many more.
Reflect on the unassailable fact that everything you know, you learnt from an older person or from his/her writings.
You are entitled to your thoughts, regardless of the quality, but when you express them on a forum like this, be prepared for unapologetic rebuttal

Well! I sincerely apologize if my post looked like an attack on Rachel Carson and Antony van Leeuwenhoek. I was referring to people in my life and in my town who told me what to do with my land.

joanie_pomseed, I did not take it as an attack on those individuals; I was reacting as an "older hortie".

Merry Christmas to you & yours!>.

Thank you. :) I thought maybe that should have said, "...Carson and Leeuwenhoek or you," but I'd already posted it.

I also remembered that I did have ant trouble on that one occasion with my pear blossoms. That's something I don't see very often. :/

joanie_pomseed, insects and other wildlife will seek food and/or harborage. If both are available they can "coexist" with us without our our knowledge. Termites and bees have been known to live and multiply for a long time in trees and between the outer and inner walls of houses until some sign or symptom betrays their presence.
Very often insects evoke an 'emotional' rather than thoughtful reaction.
Perhaps this link will explain the presence of ants in the pear tree.
Hey, it is Christmas and maybe the partridge has been displaced by ants.

I know about aphids, as I said in my first post. They have enough local predators. I was talking about the time I found the ants chewing on one of my trees' blossoms (here). That was before I stopped interfering with the ants outdoors, and it was the only occasion I saw this, though I'd seen ants attack stranger things. (Those of you who want to line-dry your clothes should take care in choosing the scent of your laundry soap. :o )

OK, I followed the link. Ants feeding on live vegetative matter in daylight caught my attention. Bachac is the spp. with which I have some familiarity. They harvest vegetative material but do not ingest it.
Many narrative reports of ants eating (ingesting) vegetative material lack the details that will convince me.
But I have an open and wary mind where Mother Nature is concerned.

Fire ants are omnivorous. Regarding their phytophagous activities, veggie seedlings are a favorite, as are tender buds, flowers, and the actual fruit. In my experience, strawberries, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, and any other sweet, ripe fruit or veggie can become fire ant breakfast, lunch, and dinner.