An old friend, a little specimen and a new lesson

While browsing through the gardens recently, I came across my Speedwell growing over into one of the garden paths. As I had to walk around it, a yellow spot on the otherwise blue flower spike caught my eye. Upon closer look, I realized it was my old friend, the Red-spotted Crab Spider, Misumena vatia. If you look closely you can see her on the middle spike.




I had seen her last week, with one of my gardener friends, as she was hanging onto a leaf blade of a daylily, not too far from her original Liatris roost in spring, on the other side of the path. Here is the spring photo, and here it the one from this week. She has maintained her bright yellow coloring on both plants. What was remarkable about seeing her at this point is that I had just recently come across a baby Red Spider Crab on a Milkweed that I was taking out of another area.




This little babe did not make it, but remained attached to a Milkweed leaf.




I scooped up the leaf and took it in to add this little critter to my insect collection.


This little creature is so very tiny, just an eight of an inch across. The adult
(Okay, so I had to go to my book to look up the specifics of the size of the adult, and found out something very interesting. The female gets to be 3/8", while the male is only 1/8". So the question becomes, is this a baby spider or a male? So now I need to go look at it more closely. Okay, where did I leave the wilted milkweed leaf with the spider on it?? Have no clue, so need to go look. Whew!! Found it fairly quickly, under a pile of paperwork that I need to get to some one of these days!! So the female is yellowish to white with crimson streaks on each side of the abdomen adn a reddishbrown stain between eyes. Yea, like I could get a close look at the eyes on this 1/8" specimen! The male, on the other hand has a dark reddish brown cephalothorax (Okay, now to look that up) the cephalothorax is the section consisting of the head and thorax just above the abdomen, in case anyone was wondering. So there is a white spot in the center of the cephalothorax and in front of the eyes. The male has 2 pairs of yellow hind legas and 2 pairs of reddish-brown fore legs. How nice for him!! LOL!!

So is this a male? I need to get a magnifying glass out to see if I can figure it out. Based on the 2 pairs of front legs being brownish, I am guessing that this was a male. The abdomen is large enough to see, but the cephalothorax is just too small to see clearly. Okay, so now I know how to tell a male from a female in the Red-spotted Crab Spider family. Now there is a lesson learned. And one which I probably would not have mourned had I not know all this.

OH NO, not again

(Had a malfunction on the post today - Was running late for first tour, so didn't proofread it all. Came in to check email and found have my post missing and pictures where they didn't belong. Lost a lot of dialog. Will patch it up as best as I can.)

Had family in from out of state Monday. Over the course of the day, had a brother, sister-in-law, niece(her 3 kids), daughter(her 2 kids); they had lunch, then other daughter arrived with 6 friends, and 2 moms, who stayed beyond first guests and had supper here. So it was a very busy day.

In the midst of all that activity, eating, swimming, playing, visiting, you know the way it goes. Got so busy wasn't paying any attention to the gardens. Well they wanted some attention. So they figured out a way to get it!

As I was saying bye and getting photos of my first wave of guests, something in the garden caught my eye. It was a beautiful double orange Daylily bloom. Now there are a lot of double orange Daylilies in the gardens. This particular one caught my eye for a very unique reason.

It was the one I had given up hope on as it had been so mangled by the run over on Saturday. This was Monday and it was in bloom!!! It was still mangled, prostrate on the garden floor, and here it was, flowering for all to enjoy.

What a lesson this dying plant gave us all that day. It showed the capacity to persevere amidst such strife. Its resiliency brought us to recognize the wonder of nature. This one little Daylily, struck down in its prime by my own little garden tornado, in the form of a backing up car, a garden disaster which left a ten foot path of devastation for all to see. This little Daylily had within it the yearning, the passion, the desire and longing to persist.

And so it struggled, and struggled, for two days, and on the third day (does anyone see the parallel here?), it came into bloom for us to be amazed by, and overwhelmed by, and in awe of.

Here's what caught my eye:




SUCH A MIRACULOUS FEAT!!!




And then the gardens spoke again. Right behind this area is a group of Liatris. I noticed a spot of yellow on one spike.

And this is what we all saw.


This is a Red-spotted Crab Spider, or Goldenrod Spider, or Flower Spider, Misumena vatia. Here she is feasting on a Honey Bee, Apis mellifera. Now I don't like to see a Honey Bee in this position, due to their waning numbers, but I must give this spider her due.




The Red-spotted Crab Spider's coloring, initially yellowish to white, often changes to yellow, camouflaging it on yellow daisies and goldenrod.




This is interesting because it is in its full yellow coloring on the purple Liatris, making it much easier to spot, as if it were announcing - "Look at me, I'm shining bright yellow for all to see me and my catch of the day!"




Here is another Red-spotted Crab Spider, in white hue, with its catch of the day, a white moth. It is in a Butterfly Bush.



And this is one in a different color combo.




Imagine being able to change your coloring to suit your habitat!! What possibilities!





This is quite the spider fashionista!!




And now for some sad news. Had another garden tornado, in the form of another car backing up incident.




And in the same exact spot as the first one.




The same plants were run down again, including our struggling little double orange Daylily.




Oh, the heartache upon discovering the atrocity, albeit unintended, the exacerbation, the previous repairs needing to be redone.




The realization that this was too much for the little double orange Daylily.


....................................................Adieu,



...............................................dear one.





-NO MORE PARKING IN THE LOWER DRIVEWAY!!! -