Fed up of ants & mealy bugs. Please help.

Hello,
I am fed up of ants and mealy bugs in my garden.
I see long ques of ants going in and out of some of my potted plants. I dont know if they are causing any damage to my plants, but I see a lot of them.
Secondly, mealy bugs are causing a lot of trouble. I saw only one bug a couple of days ago, but when I flipped some of the leaves, it was completely white & cottony. Currently, two of my plants have mealy bugs on them. I looked up online and tried spraying mixture of lukewarm water + dish soap + neem oil. It didnt make any difference. Infact, that spray made my rose plant leaves look brownish and dead. I tried to attack them with lots of water, but in vain.
How can I get rid of them with natural remedies? I cannot use anything toxic because I have a dog, and birds & bees visit my flowers too. Please help.
I am fed up of ants and mealy bugs in my garden.
I see long ques of ants going in and out of some of my potted plants. I dont know if they are causing any damage to my plants, but I see a lot of them.
Secondly, mealy bugs are causing a lot of trouble. I saw only one bug a couple of days ago, but when I flipped some of the leaves, it was completely white & cottony. Currently, two of my plants have mealy bugs on them. I looked up online and tried spraying mixture of lukewarm water + dish soap + neem oil. It didnt make any difference. Infact, that spray made my rose plant leaves look brownish and dead. I tried to attack them with lots of water, but in vain.
How can I get rid of them with natural remedies? I cannot use anything toxic because I have a dog, and birds & bees visit my flowers too. Please help.
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https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/pdfs/biological-control-suppliers.pdf
Are you sure they are mealybugs? Could they possibly be Scale insects like these on the underside of the leaves?
@Dovefromabove - My pots are well drained. I dont know why those ants are always there.
I have downloaded this picture from the internet. The bugs look like this.
Those are one of the many types of scale insects
Info about control here https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=224