"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

"Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." Robert Herrick

Hello Friends!

Friends, Romans, countrymen...y'all. Foodies, gardeners, artists and collectors - let's gather together to share and possibly learn a thing or two in the mix.

Donna Baker

Thursday, September 2, 2010

My Garden Spider

Every spring I look for argiope aurantia, commonly know as the Black and Yellow Garden Spider. If you don't like spiders, this variety is considered harmless to humans. With the elaborate web she weaves, I've come to enjoy watching these year after year. They start out each spring finding a spot where she will spend the rest of her days; tiny webs at first growing up to two feet across in late summer.
These Garden Spiders mate once a year, then lay their eggs at night and form a ball of silk around them. She guards her sack as long as she is able. As the fall nights cool, she becomes more frail and dies around the first hard frost. Her hatchlings, the size of a speck of dust, will exit the pod in the spring. The teenies then exude a strand of silk that gets caught by a breeze, and fly away...




13 comments:

trash talk said...

I'm not a big fan of spiders but this one I just love. I have one right now working on her web in the trailer. The coloring is beautiful. I didn't know the proper name..I called her a pineapple spider...kinda looks like one on her back.
The webbing is unbelievable...kind of like stitches!
Debbie

A Brit in Tennessee said...

I think this spider weaves one of the most beautiful and intricate webs...
Living where we regularly have Brown Recluse spiders, I tend to kill anything I'm not immediately familiar with,but not this lady, I leave her be.
Splendid photo !

ain't for city gals said...

Very interesting...I try to learn one new thing a day and this is it!

Barbara Wells Sarudy said...

Beautiful...

Blue Muse said...

Hi Donna!

You brave woman. Spiders are that one thing that I just can't overcome... I'm cringing now - but I love spiderwebs - so beautiful (as long as the resident is loooong gone!)

Your photography is amazing and that's a cool thing to know about the babies flying off on their strand of web. I never knew that.

Happy September, sweet one!
xo Isa

A Wild Thing said...

I...I...I...can't go here...I know, I know, but I'm so scared of spideys...I can't even stand to have the web touch me...ewwwwww!!!!

However, with all the spring rains we had, our usual bumper crop didn't happen this year...whew!!! Neither did the grasshoppers, but boy do the daddy long legs like the new shop, them I can handle...ha!

Have a great day sister!

PS...your window box just gave me an idea for my window boxes and the two spare drawers I'll have from making a bench out of an old chest...THANKS!

s

mermaid gallery said...

I think i should know the names of my local spiders too. Interesting how we tend to ignore them when they are such busy, interesting little seamstresses....

Xi said...

Yes, Inés remains an adorable baby.

Oh, that spider is precious and that keeps her eggs, how cool!

Mary-Laure said...

Stunning! I'm not an avid spider fan myself (not that I mind them, really), but this one is just spectacular.

Unknown said...

Sweet Jesus - I'll never come visit you now.

Mary Bergfeld said...

Donna, you photos are close to amazing - here and on the other posts you feature on your blog. This is my first visit to your site but I'll be back often. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

Julie said...

Oh - we have tons of these spiders on our farm too!

Carol............. said...

This is my first visit to your blog and I found may interesting posts here..along with great photos!

I will return since I'm interested in many of the same things.

I've watched the "Last Emperor" at least 4 times and always find something new that I missed the first time.....a wonderful movie.