Marigold, with an Ant

India · nature

A double orange marigold fills the frame, its petals tangled and slightly past their first day. A small red ant climbs through the layers near the centre.

Marigolds are the universal flower of Indian ritual — temple offerings, doorway garlands, the wedding mandap — and you can find them in every middle-class garden, growing in old paint buckets or tin tea-tins repurposed as pots. The double-form African marigold, with its dense ruffled head, is one of the more generous: it holds its colour for almost a week even after being cut, and it tolerates being repeatedly picked over by ants.

This one was opening for its second day. The petals near the centre were still tightly held; the outer rows had begun to relax and curl back. A small red ant — Oecophylla, weaver ant, probably — was climbing through the inner layers, looking for whatever ants look for inside a marigold. I shot in close, with the ant in sharp focus and the petals around it slightly soft. There is a specific kind of macro that requires you to wait for the small inhabitant of the flower to be where you want it. Sometimes the ant cooperates. Today it did.

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