Orbs of Gold!

  Son and I picked a few of the satsumas to send to Georgia.  My sweet daughter-in-law loves the things and now she has introduced them to my grandbabies.  Each year, we send a large box of the slightly under ripe fruit to their house.   One of the satsuma trees sits right next to the Boysenberry row.   While we were picking, Son pointed out a nice sized cocoon dangling between some of the vines.  It was a nice sized ball about as big as a quail egg and was suspended by some fine webbing. The case was spun with the same silk which was a fine gold.  Hmmm? Well, now!  This needed investigating for sure!

  I had an inkling just what was contained in that gorgeous, golden orb but I needed to be sure.  I did a bit of research which confirmed my suspicions.  A Golden Orb Weaver Spider had been busy.  These giants of spiders are some of my favorites in the garden.  With their massive webs, they catch all sorts of garden pests and add a bit of beauty to the place.  I was thrilled to finally find one of the egg cases as, here lately, we have not seen an abundance of the spiders.  Their numbers seem to be on the decline which saddens me.  Years ago, it was not uncommon to find hundreds of webs on the hillside.  This year, I found two. Hopefully, this egg case will see the survival of many of the little ones.

  Contrary to popular belief, the Golden Orb Weaver is not named so because of the color of the spider.  The name comes from the fine silk that the spider spins.  Given the right position of sunbeams, a web will gleam with a golden glow.  The orb-shaped egg cases also gleam with that golden glow. This is just one of the things that make this a special spider and one to encourage to be a garden resident.