According to Wikipedia, Araneus diadematus, aka the European Garden Spider is common all across the US. They live in New England, they live in the South, they live in California. Most importantly, they live in our yard; six of them.
Our first European garden spider appeared about two years ago. She was big, golden and had a big cross on her body. We immediately named her Princess Sophia. Princess Sophia would spend her days either hanging upside down in the middle of her web or hiding under a dried out leaf. Just to be sure I went online and made sure of two things: Princess Sophia is not poisonous, and Princess Sophia does not bite.
Princess Sophia's reign ended when we got a letter from our homeowner's association informing us that the outside of our townhouse was going to be repainted. Since sandblasting was involved, I feared for Princess Sophia's life and one day grabbed the leaf she was hiding under and moved her to another part of the garden. We never saw Princess Sophia again.
Just last week I was thinking about Princess Sophia and wondering what happened to her. Did she find a new home? Did she reproduce? I was afraid that we had seen the last of her.
Today I went out to our yard, planning on lying in the hammock and catching up on my Vogue and Vanity Fair (another story for another blog). On the way there I felt a strand from a web on my face. I started looking around and was happy to find it belonged to a small European garden spider. Looking around I saw five more round webs with five more spiders in it. I will not let rational thought interfere, but will assume that these are Princess Sophia's grandchildren.
I will grant them sanctuary in our yard.
