Friday, July 29, 2005

Argiope aurantia

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Well, the fiber fest is tomorrow, and I am just about ready.  I am all packed and tonight we will be setting up the tent, and doing last minute checks.  One of the last things I was doing this afternoon was picking some flowers for the barn.  I was clipping some Queen Anne's Lace, and some purple cone flowers...and I wandered over to the Helianthus (hey, they are just flowers for the barn).

As I clipped them, I felt that there was some webby sticky feeling on the leaves.  I suspected that I was touching spider web...so I looked around.  There, towering overhead was the garden spider.  You can sorta see the zig zag web that they are famous for....but with my dinky little camera I could not begin to capture the beauty of this creature.  I am so pleased to see one in my garden...what a compliment!  It pays not to spray!  For a better picture, and to read more about this spider, I googled it and you can check the page by clicking here.

 

 

4 comments:

Leslie Shelor said...

I love seeing these in the garden; I usually only find one or two a year but they are splendid and, to some people, disturbing. I guard them jealously from the arachnaphobes here!

cyndy said...

yes, I guess some people do find them a bit scary ...I always feel like it is a sign of good luck when I find one...what other spider do you know who can spin a zig-zag like that??? Gotta respect it!

Anonymous said...

How lucky you are to have your spider. These are startling beauties and coveted by gardeners. Your photo is great. I am also a believer that spiders are a sign of good luck.

cyndy said...

Hi Judith-

Can you tell if it is a male or female? I read that they eat their web at night and spin a new one the next day, but have not observed this. I went back today to see if it was still there, but I guess it was camera shy and decided to leave (at least I hope it is still around and was not eaten by something else!)

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