ants, whitefly, and cucumber beetles-kinda long and whiney!!

okay, I have lots of questions maybe someone can help with one or all of them.

1. I know that whitefly is very damaging to house plants, but how much damage can it do outside??? I have a passiflora whose leaves are almost gone, could the whitefly be the culprit?? At first I thought it was leaf-cutter bees but that kind of damage is almost gone. When I brush the plant lots of whiteflies come out. Is it possible to control them outdoors???

2. All of my passifloras are budding again, and they seem to be covered with ants, I see no aphids or anything like them except maybe whiteflies. Are the ants going to damage the plants?? They seem to be concentrated mostly on the flower buds. When my other passion flower bloomed earlier this summer I did not notice the ants, maybe is this like how peonies need ants to bloom???

3. In the rose garden I have Heritage it has a couple of buds on it one of them was covered with ants today, I just removed the bud ants and all, again no sign of aphids. I cleaned any debris from the base of the plant and ants were coming out of the ground and up the graft union of the rose!! I drenched it with water and sprayed safer soap.
The bud I picked off did have a hole in it, is this caused by cucmber beetles??? I have seen a few in the past week on a couple of other rose bushes.

I know the weather has been pretty good for pests and diseases in my area this summer, I really haven't had too much trouble so far, but all of a sudden I feel like I'm on a bug farm!!! I guess I'm just mainly concerned if any of these infestations are life-threatening, or should I just relax and let them eat cake....well my plants!!!!
Thanks for listening, any adivse will help, I'm getting to the point I've been outside for so long with my bugs today I feel itchy all over!!! Yuck!
Becky

OK, I'll try to help with part of the questions. Caterpillars are probably the culprits eating your leaves. The passiflora is the larval food for the heliconia butterfly. Whiteflies dont "eat" the leaves, they suck out the juice. Spray with safers and be sure you get the underside, or just leave them alone if you aren't bringing the plant in.
Passifloras have a defense against the cats that eat them. They have glands that give off a sweet substance to draw in ants, which eat the eggs of the butterflies whose larva eats the passiflora. Have I confused you yet? It's okay, they won't hurt them. It's just natures way.
Cucumber beetles eat everything!! Safers works good, pyrethrum is better. The ants are just looking for food if you didn't see aphids, mealybugs or scale on your roses.

I just visited a friend's greenhouse the other day, and it is infested with whiteflies. I've never encountered them before, but once you've seen them, you'll be able to identify them. Their wings are so white they look like tiny bits of paper. Here's a leaf and stem I photographed while there.