Spiders and insects are a constant presence in our semi-rural area. Walking through my garden in late September through October without a broom or something to sweep away the nearly invisible spider webs stretched across my path guarantees that I'll get my face wrapped in sticky, silky threads. I'm not afraid of spiders but I don't know anyone who doesn't find that experience at least a little creepy. I generally think of October as "spider season" as that's when spiders make their presence known, building webs to capture insects before they lay their eggs. For some reason, our resident spiders are off to an early start this year. We've walked into webs at regular intervals for weeks already but last week we woke up to a scene from a horror film - webs were everywhere!
Fortunately for us, the morning marine layer covered the webs in dew, making them much more visible.
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| This one, stretched across the flagstone path in the front garden, was perhaps 3 feet in diameter - and it wasn't the only one in that area. Moving through the area without breaking one or more of them would have required limbo skills more advanced than those I possess. |
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| This one in the south side garden also adjoined a path. There's usually another one across the arbor to the left but I think my husband had already walked through that one. |
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| This photogenic web was woven through a Leucadendron in the back garden. Smaller webs covered portions of Acacia 'Cousin Itt' in the background. |
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| Another Leucadendron on the other end of the backyard garden was also decorated in fine silk strands |
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| The top of the Xylosma hedges were also covered. I'm guessing that each of these small webs was the creation of a separate spider. |
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| Other webs hung over the Arbutus 'Marina' |
That's a very small sample of the webs we found. I know spiders are useful insect predators and I don't go out of my way to harm them but I didn't hesitate to clear those strung across my main pathways either. I conducted a little research in an effort to determine why the spiders have thrown themselves into massive web-building exercise on an earlier schedule this year. I didn't find any references to our current circumstances in Southern California but comments on similar situations suggest that early web-building may signify an early fall and winter. If true, that would be great!
Do you have a favorite spider movie? Mine is
Arachnophobia.
All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
