Thanks for the close-up picture! I do have to go a little sturdier on my stakes. I bet we get at least 25 days/year with winds of 30 MPH with higher gusts.
We don't have fire ants in Kansas (that I know of), but I do have the same problem. During the drought, the pocket gophers would go through my little irrigation circles because those plants were the only ones available with succulent roots. Sometimes the killed my tree, sometimes they didn't.
Likewise, the armadillos would dig around the edges of my water circles because that is where the insect larva were thriving.
I guess no matter what humans are trying to grow, nature always throws a few "green sunfish" into the mixture to keep us on our toes!
