Look Who Is Living In My Garden!

Ok, so my garden is more just a mass of grape and cherry tomato plants that got mowed over at the end of the season last year... but hey, they are still producing fruit! They are definitely the kind of plant that just goes wild without any help! (although I think the mower, mowing over all of the un-picked tomatoes helped to make the mess bigger!)

I was out picking some tomatoes... and JUST about stuck my hand in this fine spidey's web! I HATE spiders, but I kind of liked this one. I grabbed my camera to take a shot. I looked it up online... and found out that it's just a harmless "Argiope aurantia" or "black and yellow garden spider" (Go Steelers! lol). They WILL bite humans if grabbed at, etc... but really have no interest and are good for eating pests in the garden. I wish they'd eat those darn june bugs!

After my lil research, I'd say that this spider is a female. The males aren't nearly as bright and vivid... which is a bit odd considering its usually the male who is more beautifully colored (like with birds). But, she supposedly will stay in the same general area her whole life... which should end probably around the first hard frost. She'll probably lay eggs though... which I will try not to obliterate - even though they give me the creeps. Kinda neat to look at, don't ya think? All I have to say... is Thank Goodness for the ZOOM button!