It is very rare that ants will damage plants.
The only way they damage them,
is by building their nests up and around plants...
and unless the plant can adapt, they do suffer or die..
I have ants, and I should have thought it through
when I first moved here, and survey'd the land/property...
And then left the ant hills where they were,
and maybe they wouldn't have taken up in my nice garden soil...
I buzzed the hills' down with the ole lawn mower, and now, they are right in the middle of a creeping phlox clump...
and one they made a hill around my ladies mantle..
It's holding it's own..
I had some hens~n~chicks around another one
and they didn't like being buried...
The sedums' are adjusting too, but I really need to get them out...
I do have those red ants and they seem to like moisture, they are more found a piece of rotten wood, or under a rock, or landscaped fabric..
and mulch...grrrrr!