Golden Garden Spider

Golden Garden Spider

One of the insects I've noticed over the years is a large spider that has taken up residence in the dwarf Fortnight Lily in the front yard.

According to the San Diego Museum of Natural History, this is a female Golden Garden Spider, Argiope aurantia.  The web this spider builds is a beautiful structure, precisely constructed and balanced.  The zigzag pattern of silk in the middle of the web strengthens the structure.  Then she just sits there waiting for flying insects to fly into the web.  I'm hoping she'll trap lots of the pesky black flies that plague us all summer.

I had noticed a much smaller but similar spider in a separate web close to the female spider's web and assumed that it was a juvenile staying close to Mom, but it appears that this is really the male spider, staying nearby until she's ready to mate.  Guess he doesn't want to miss his opportunity.

Fortnight Lily

I like the fortnight lilies, of which we used to have four or five in the front yard.  The problem was that they kept growing larger and larger, taking up more growing space, and they also dropped seed pods all over the yard, creating even more plants that threatened to take over the space altogether.

Cindy got tired of uprooting the numerous seedlings and finally just took all but one of them out and planted other plants.  She left the one dwarf plant as a concession to me, so now it not only produces beautiful flowers but also provides a home for our Golden Garden Spiders, otherwise known as our Insect Control Officers.

Get those black flies!