Orb Weaver - UPDATE

We released this little lady back on August 31 in our flower bed of Cone flowers and Black-eyed Susan's. She wasn't too accommodating when we released her, as far as sitting still and posing for a few farewell pictures. She didn't waste any time crawling beneath the plants to get away.

It was only a couple days later that we discovered her, not too far from where we let her go, in a brandy new web she built just waiting for dinner to arrive. Here is a picture of her -

I spent this past Saturday in the yard planting some new perennials, splitting and transplanting some daylilies, etc. I've had this one Sedum plant that's been confined to a pot all summer long. It was planted along with a small Plumeria cutting. I should have separated the two in the spring but it didn't happen. So with the pending arrival of fall/winter I thought now would be a good time to get the two spit, the Sedum in the ground and the Plumeria in the house.

There are two reasons why this plan didn't occur; first, there was almost no dirt left in the pot when I removed the plants - it was all roots, root-bound. Splitting the two plants would have been difficult under these conditions but I was ready for the challenge. Secondly, and the main reason, I found this hanging amongst the two plants, as a result I am sacrificing the Plumeria plant to Mother Nature (we have two others) -

I believe this papery sack is housing over a thousand eggs that were laid by our Black and Yellow lady. This Sedum/Plumeria potted plant was in the area where we released her. Emotions are mixed here, on one hand we're proud pending parents, but on the other hand we're sadden because after laying the egg, the spider dies, which may also explain why we have not see her in quite some time now...plus we have our work cut out for us. How in the world are we going to come up with one thousand names, GRIKEY?!

The baby spiders hatch from their eggs in the fall, but they stay inside the sac through winter, so we'll be keeping a close eye come Spring to see just what emerges. Actually, I may now move this plant someplace closer to the house, where there is a better chance of the young sticking around our flower gardens versus venturing elsewhere.

Oh the anticipation, stay tuned...