How can I write a relationship among the objects in a sentence?

Question

For instance, let’s say that I want to establish an association among 3 objects. In this case, let the objects be “Roses”, “Violets”, and ”Tulips”.

Then, if I want to say, for example, that in my garden there was an anthill among those three categories of flowers, how should I write it?

• There was an anthill among my roses, violets, and tulips.

or

• There was an anthill between my roses, violets, and tulips.

Another example could be:

• Here, I will explain the difference between roses, violets, and tulips.

or

• Here, I will explain the difference among roses, violets, and tulips.

Answer 1

I would say that either

There was an anthill among my roses, violets, and tulips.

or

There was an anthill between my roses, violets, and tulips.

could be acceptable. If there were three separate groups of flowers, say in a triangular arrangement, and the anthill is in the middle, I would use "between". If they were all mixed, I would use "among". I note that in heraldry, to express the concept that one object is within a goup of other objects, the only correct verb is "between" A bend between five bezants. (A diagonal line with three coins above it and two below.)

I would say

Here, I will explain the differences between roses, violets, and tulips.

I might also use a version with "among" but I would be less inclined to do so.