Wouldn't Hurt A Fly

Behold Araneus diadematus, a Garden Spider sometimes known as a Cross Spider.  Now I like to have spiders in the garden.  I think they are interesting and attractive.  I usually admire them, sometimes photograph them and basically leave them alone to do their thing.  My first encounter with this lovely lady this morning happened when I opened the screen door to enter the kitchen.  Both spider web and spider hit me in the face.  I'm not crazy about walking into spider silk although it happens often, but when  I saw the size of this spider as it dropped to the deck I was spooked!
I thought the whole thing was behind me, but the next time I went out the door she was back.  I got the camera and took her picture for identification purposes.  I noticed that she is missing part of one leg.  I sure hope I didn't do that.  Usually I wouldn't hurt a fly!  I gently flicked her off the edge of the door.  Little did I know that this kind of spider always uses a parachute.  She made a strand of web and dropped slowly to the deck.

All she had to do was climb back up eating the silk on her way.  Here she is again disappearing into the space between the door jamb and the door.

It looks like a tight squeeze with little room to spare.

There goes the last of her seven and a half legs back where she was in the first place.  There is no doubt that I lost round one.  I'm not completely sure what to do next.  I refuse to stop using the kitchen door for the summer, but I don't care for the idea of squashing her  or worse pinching her legs off one at a time.  If I am lucky when I go back outside she will be gone, but probably I will have to see if Ed will evict her for me.  She is too smart, too fast, and too stubborn for me.  I'm fine with spiders in the garden, but when they cross the line and come into the house the rules change.  Things can get interesting when you wouldn't hurt a fly!

To Squish Or Not To Squish...

Cleaning up the fall garden is filled with so many decisions for the gardener.  It's not just the fate of the plants that has to be determined, but also the fate of the unending number of other garden residents must be decided.  I was busily trimming the basil.  Snipping off the flowering tops and seeds and removing nasty looking leaves makes picking basil for use a lot easier.  With the cooler September weather, fresh basil season is rapidly drawing to a close.  There in the middle of the patch was this amazing spider.  She is not quite as big as pictured, but it is close.  I would never purposely squish such a spider.  It is my policy to let these Argiope aurantia spiders live in the garden.  It warms my heart to think of all the babies she will produce, patrolling my garden eating those bugs that insist on eating me or my plants.  I just moved to another part of the garden to work on something else.

There have never  in my memory been so many of these spiders in the garden.  This one was over by one of the day lilies.  This picture shows more clearly why we have always called these Marge Simpson spiders.

The largest one I have seen so far was over by Ed's shed.  Even the underside of this spider is intricately patterned. I wonder just how many of these there are here in the garden and beyond?

I have always read about Marge's husband hanging around the web.  He was always described as nondescript and tiny. I never saw a picture of a male Argiope aurantia , but there he is in my basil. The difference in size is appalling. He is one brave spider!

A beetle like this one that looks  like a ladybug was left unmolested.

This spider gave me more of a start when I first saw it.  It was tucked up under the handle of the water hydrant.  I got the camera and took a picture of this "Garden Spider".   In the garden it would fare better, but I was not happy with the thing lurking where I put my hands so often.  I watched my chance and when the spider was not visible, I uses all the squirting power I could get to clean out the hydrant handle.  So far it seems to have moved on, but I try to keep an eye out for her return.

I used to be squeamish about killing anything.  Now I admit I take great delight in squishing Japanese beetles, cutworms... anything I know to be bad from my gardener's point of view.  Even circumstantial evidence is good enough for me.  If I find a cardinal flower plant striped of it's leaves and there is a caterpillar on the plant I squish it and feel good about it.  With practice maybe I can develop my mean streak!