Garden Pic Wednesday: Garden Spiders!

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At the far end of my back yard, behind the maple tree, strung around a Plumbago and an Azalea are two Garden Spider Condos---multiple layers of finely spun webs, each belonging to a different spider. It's like a 3-dimensional web of webs.
I can see them sparkling in the late afternoon sunlight.
Intrigued one day recently, I went back to see what was there:

Several Black & Yellow Garden Spiders:
Some were larger, older ones and also younger, smaller ones, each with their own web.
(This one is about about 1 1/4 inch in size.)
 Sometimes these are called "Zipper Spiders." They're very common. (And harmless.)





















Orchard Orb Weaver Spiders:
On webs layered in among the Black & Yellow Spider's webs were also lots of these shiny green Weavers with their iridescent orange spots. Always around the garden also. (And harmless)





A Nice Shot of A Sunlit Spider Web




I Won This Shrub As A Door Prize Today:
It's a Night Blooming Jasmine topiary shrub. I attended a Master Gardener presentation on "Moon Gardening," this morning and these things always do random door prizes. It was at the nearby Community Center, sponsored by the library.


I learned a lot about Moon Gardening I didn't know. It's an old art dating back to India in the 1600's.
Really the point is to provide night-time pollinators with a food source and generally to plant things that will look pretty and reflective in moonlight, like white, light yellow, lavender and blue flowers that are open at night. Also pretty or showy greenery, particularly silvery (like Dusty Miller) and chartruese (like certain Hostas.)  Also, using white containers or pave stones to reflect the moonlight.
I realized I have many flowers that stay open all night, though more of them are warm-colors rather then cool.

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