Remember our giant orb spider? The spider who built a web across an entire garden bed? She was the size of my hand, fingers spread. She was so enormous the dog barked at her.
Ms. Spider only came out of hiding at night. Same with her daughters.
Ms. Spider, unfortunately, died. At least I assume she died. She must have been quite old for an orb spider. But she left us with an egg sac.
The baby spiders were tiny, practically microscopic when they first hatched. They flew off on silk threads, spreading throughout the neighborhood. Some, however, stayed right here. Yay!
We have two big babies in the garden, another in one of the hydrangeas, and a third and fourth in the redwoods- and these are just the spiders we’ve spotted.
The two babies in the garden have taken over their mother’s spot- same garden bed. One is on each side of my tomato plant. Their webs are so large, as are their legs, I refuse to harvest any tomatoes- mostly because while I know where one of the spiders spends her day, the other has hidden herself well. I can’t find her during the daylight hours. I suppose I’ll have to relocate the spiders before I pull the tomato plant at the end of the season. Because no way do I want those spiders on my hand or in my hair. They’ve grown to silver dollar size. Yikes! Big enough that Jake has noticed them. Now he barks at them when they appear in the early evening.
Here’s a video of their mom. If I can I’ll post a video of the babies.