What's wrong with this picture?Hint: Lower, right.
It's a spider.
Not just any spider, oh no.
Any spider would camp out under a rock or in
some obscure corner or on a web that hits you
in the face as you walk by because you don't see it.
But not this spider.
He likes to be front and center.
I won't pretend to have entomological leanings
so you bug-savvy people can go ahead and roll your eyes.
I only know it by its street name: "Crab spider."
He probably possesses an obscure benefit to the overall ecosystem
but I don't give a rip.
He's not welcome in my garden.
Going about my gardening, I'll see it sitting there, smug.
Like he owns the whole damn flower.
He's waiting. For lunch.
Eventually an unsuspecting, nectar-loving, tunnel-vision, bee will
home in and think, Wow. Yum. And settle down to eat...
Its last meal.
At which point,
Mr. Crabby-Pants will pounce and suck the life
right out of my beloved furry flying friend.
Evil.
Call me politically incorrect. I kill crab spiders.
This one died right after I took its picture.
I don't think you'll see any of Crabby's relatives in the
following photos.
Knock Out Double Red RoseIt's looking pretty fine isn't it?
One of the views from my deck.The hanging basket houses, among other things,
'Tom West' Fuchsia. I successfully wintered
a humble stem of a thing and look at it now!
Fuchsia 'Nikki's Findling' an upright, non-frost hardy.A local nursery has tons of Fuchsia varieties.
Most are available for purchase as plugs for
a mere 75 cents which enables me to experiment without breaking the bank.
Mukdenia rossii 'Crimson Fans'Last year I kept this in full shade and lamented the solid
green foliage. An hour or so of filtered sunlight goes a long way.
Rhus typhina 'Tiger Eyes' Sumaclives in a generous container. The "fabulous chartreuse" foliage
has taken on pink tones. Love it.
Clematis texensis 'Duchess of Albany'
Eupatorium cannabinum 'Flore Plenum'This is a newbie this year. It's grown to about six feet
and has more rounded clusters of tiny pink flowers.
Phlox paniculata 'Bright Eyes'Sooo beautiful!
Achillea millefolium 'Summer Wine'No alcohol, no calories.
Agastache cana 'Heather Queen'One of my cats likes to jump up and scare the humming birds
feasting on these blossoms.
The birds fly off and the cat crawls out from under five hundred broken stems.
I sigh and wonder why I have cats.
And another "oops!"Neglecting for like one day, to monitor the zucchini,
this one threatened to swallow the house.
The upside: zucchini muffins!
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22 COMMENTS, Click here to add yours:
Grace, your garden continues to be such an inspiration to me- you have no idea- just beautiful, evil crab spider and all! Happy gardening to you :)
Not to found of spiders either, it's really the snakes that bother me, they are so not welcome around here....You'll see a similar post about them later this morning. Your gardens are so beautiful Grace...I love it when the green foliage takes on the hues of red..
I love all the pink blooms in your garden. Your view from the deck is just beautiful!
btw- you are pretty ruthless killing that spider. I kill them in the house, but outside....well, it is me against 8 million!
Hi Grace,
Always a pleasure to visit your pretty garden. It is so lush and well placed!
Mr. Crabby pants wouldn't last long here either if its main course is another beneficial bug. Then again, I'm NEVER worried about being PC so I balance my own garden by snipping the heads off of the awful Eastern Lubber grasshoppers when I can find them. And (*gasp*) glee follows at the thought of my plants living without chewed up leaves. (hope that makes you feel better) :-)
I love the foliage colors you've photographed and the fuchsia is a delight to your view from the deck. I imagine you take in its wonders often. Fuchsia does not like our humidity here so I'll adore yours happily.
All your pink flowers are striking and so nice to see today.
meems
Your phlox is looking wonderful. We've had so much rain this year that I lost 3 of mine to disease. The others I've been spraying with copper fungicide to try to control it. I love the strips on that zucchini! -Jackie
Grace I just love the yarrow 'Summer Wine' it is gorgeous. Adding to the list again.Your fuchsia is so pretty. Both of my double knock out roses bit the dust after last winter but yours looks so pretty.No problem with he single blooming ones just the double ones.I want to try them again but from a different company and see if it was my fault or the grower(more likely mine)
I didn't know that about crab spiders, I did notice they always seem to be on the flowers. That is a little sneaky of them.
I love seeing what you grow in pots, I've been using more perennials and shrubs in containers rather than just annuals. I really like the Sumac, that would look nice on the newly refinished deck. Of course I will be looking for the Clematis too, I don't have any texensis yet.
my kids are downright OBSESSED with crab-spiders, because some of them have the ability to change colors. We used to have them all the time, but ever since they decided they wanted to catch one for a science fair project, our yard has been bereft of the little buggers. That was three years ago! So as far as I can tell, the way to beat them is to have a need for one.
We had a crab spider take up residence in a large web in the corner of our sliding glass door. Man, those things move quickly when the web shakes a bit! It's gone now.
And I just put in a mukdenia where it gets morning and evening sun, so the foliage is reddening up. Such a lovely little thing. It might make a nice edging for the path I'll put in someday, will have to watch and see.
Kill away! I don't recall seeing "the crab" in my garden, thank goodness but I am enjoying smashing weevils whenever I see them, and I think of you Grace! That Rose is picture perfect!
Aw, poor spider. Not. He needed to get squished. Maybe a few times for good measure.
I love your garden, the variety of types and color and layout is awesome.
Grace,
Those crab spiders can nap about anything that comes along, I have a photo of one with a tiger swallowtail even. Ever have zucchini pancakes? Just grate it up and add to your pancakes, tasty in fact :)
Grace:
I think we've been hanging together too long..... fabulous(ly) chartreuse..... gotta love when I rub off on people!
Hate the crab spiders too, but then again bumble bees frighten me even more! Gorgeous photos - the containers are so going to be a focus for me from here on in as I need more room for sun lovers!
Your gardens are continuing to look beautiful! I hope my Heather Queen Agastache blooms as well as yours. I don't know if we have crab spiders here. Do they eat things besides bees?
I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to spiders especially if they come inside the house. Outside though as long as they keep away from me I am fine :) The dahlia on which Crabby is crawling is such a vibrant colour. Do you know which one it is Grace ?
P.S Forgot to say that the zucchini are looking good :)
I have been known to squish a spider or two indoors but outside I have let them be. Then again, I didn't know about the crab spiders! I wonder if they do fulfill a function in nature, seems like they must, unless they are not native to places where bees roam. Hm, maybe a question for a naturalist? Now I am curious! Your garden is looking fab as always and that stripy zuke is a beauty! Glad it made it into muffins, always the best way to eat your veggies. :)
Didn't mean to make you jealous with the SAGBUTT write-up but am pondering trying to find a date to rope you OR folks in too, maybe find a great meeting spot halfway in between? Might you be up for it if so? Kind of a PNW garden bloggers jamboree... anyway, pondering and actually organizing are two different things for me, for sure!
PS I went back to look at that pink bell campanula again and was planning to ask you for seed saving advice, and it was gone! They obviously hired someone to come in a whack all the weeds, and the flowers went too. Wah!
Your garden is very beautiful and I love the pink blooms.
An absolutely stunning garden . . . although compared to yours I'm seriously lacking pink! lol
I've blogged about my local crab spider a couple of times here: http://ryans-garden.blogspot.com/2009/05/snow-white-beauty.html and http://ryans-garden.blogspot.com/2009/06/crabby-and-his-catch-my-local-crab.html
Amazing view from your deck! I was eyeing a eupatorim this year but didn't do it. It grew 6' in it's first year. Now I'm regretting passing it up. I guess there's always fall planting.
What a fabulous garden you have ... wonderful colors and textures... so painterly and lush. Glad to have found you!
I would just like to add that I love that variety of fuchsia... you must get great hummer shots there. I love your metal pail plant containers too! So many terrific details!
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