Big Bad Spiders and Mud Dauber Nests

What looks like a mud dauber nest...they are solitary wasps. The females rool mud into a ball, and mold it with their mandibles to form a nest. After the nest is done, the female captures spiders or other tasty edibles to leave in the nest with the eggs. When the larvae hatch they have a hearty breakfast to sustain them. Wait, this is a mud dauber nest, isn't it? Gulp. (We found this on the door frame of our side door)


This is a Black and Yellow Argiope aurantia orb weaving spider. My husband found this on the basil and fern leaf lavender plants tonight when he was gathering some leaves for a pesto. MMM. Delicious Argiope spider pesto. From head to toes, this bad mamma was about 2 inches. Yowza! They are carnivorous and feed on aphids, flies, grasshoppers, wasps, and bees.



PS- There has been this abundance of spiders and insects in the garden this year....I always feel like our backyard is this wilderness that wants to return to it's natural, wild state. Spiders come and go, pine needles litter the ground, ants build their nests regardless of knowing this is my cultivated raised bed designated exclusively for vegetables and flowers, possums plunder, a clay soil goes from flat and controlled to rolling and unruly. But is that really so bad? It just reminds me to sit back sometimes and just observe the show...maybe sometimes you can learn a lot more that way if you just sit the f**k down and shut the f**k up.