If spiders freak you out, you might want to scroll to the bottom of this post for a Hobart picture, ha.
These are spiders we have here in our yards. They look scary (I wouldn't want to have one on me, ha) but they are not aggressive and are non-venomous. They also eat bugs, wasps, mosquitoes. They are friendly allies to have in the garden.
And we have apparently had a population explosion of them at the farm...
There is this one in the blueberry bushes on the porch...
This one in the Texas lilac vitex bush...
This one on a bag of potting soil...
This one on a bush...
This one on a landscape timber...
And this one making a home in a flowering vine...
Again, they are friendly, if not intimidating.
Now as a palette cleanser...
...here is a picture of Hobart, sleeping on the work laptop a couple of weeks ago, doing his best to keep me from working.
I have seen more than usual around here as well.
ReplyDeleteThe Yellow garden spiders breed once a year. The female produces from 1000 to 4000 eggs in multiple sacs (from 1 to 4). The egg sacs are brown in color and made of silk. The female most often attaches the egg sacs toward the center of the web, where she can easily guard them. She guards her eggs until she dies, usually around the time of the first frost. Males die after breeding, and are sometimes eaten by the female spiders. The eggs hatch in the late fall/winter and the young hatchlings remain in the sac until spring. When the eggs hatch in the spring, the spiderlings, which are very tiny, disperse. Some travel in the wind using a strand of silk web to fly them in the air, while others stay in the area to hunt and build their own webs.
Read more: https://www.desertusa.com/insects/garden-spider.html#ixzz6XScwvO00
I remember when our grandsons where younger that they would catch grasshoppers and toss them into the spiders web. (boys will be boys)
interesting spiders. and hello handsome hobart!
ReplyDeletei like spiders as long as they aren't on me. i have lots of them in my gardens right now. i hate it when i accidentally walk through a web. hobart looks so serious.
ReplyDeleteI just realized I haven't seen any this year, not in the garden, not in the flower beds. Hopefully they are moved off to corners where there are enough plants left that are tall enough for them to make their webs...
ReplyDeleteI just realized I haven't seen any this year, not in the garden, not in the flower beds. Hopefully they are moved off to corners where there are enough plants left that are tall enough for them to make their webs...
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've seen any of the big yellow spiders in 2 years! My aide says she hasn't either.. Maybe they migrated?
ReplyDeleteI find spiders fascinating, but I'd rather watch them on their webs rather than crawling on my skin!
ReplyDeleteI guess I"d watch too from afar. They must be all related to the same Charlotte. Did you find any words spun in webs in your barns?
ReplyDeleteGolden Orb Spinner. I had one right above the garden shed door for a month or more. One day she had pulled up stakes and moved. The next day I spotted her 8 feet away in the herb garden.
ReplyDeleteI'll take Hobart, thank you very much. Those spiders are beautiful, I guess, if you're into that kind of thing. They just look lethal to me.
ReplyDeleteHobart is magnificent and looks exactly like my long-gone but still deeply-loved cat Satchel.
Those are Golden Weavers. They thrive here in Texas. I love them even though I have been known to say all spiders should be nuked from outer space but hey these spiders are special in my heart because they love to catch and eat wasps. Please don't kill them they are beneficial.
ReplyDeleteOne of those had spun a web across my door. Of course, I opened it one morning and stepped right into it. After me pulling a hole in it to get through several mornings, she moved a bit to the side of door and corner. We were both happy after that.
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ReplyDeleteI meant to say that I have a live and let live philosophy anywhere outside on the farm; come inside my house and all bets are off. No exceptions.
ReplyDeleteI love these spiders. It's great that you have these good garden helpers scattered all around.
ReplyDeleteLove the picture of Hobart!
Good day, Could someone identify the type of spider that is. I had a very dear friend who told me it was good for you to have a small "kitchen spider" so that it would catch any unwanted flies. She always seemed to have one in her window above the sink. Other than that her cats would not abide by one in the other areas. I had a spider bite on the eyelid and it was not pretty.
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