So I am gingerly stepping through the day lilly garden, pulling our the dead flower stalks. This one is not quite ready to pull free from the bulb so I bend over and get a little closer and . . . . OMG! Sweet Jesus save me! i come face to face with this beauty!
She was only about 3″ from my nose. I teetered on the back of my tennis shoes and backed up.
What in the hell kind of spider is that!?! I hope it’s not poisonous.
I run inside and look it up on the computer: it’s a St. Anthony’s Cross spider. (“Cross” because they keep two legs close together so their legs form an x shape, or a cross.) Non-poisonous. Whew! They eat lots of bugs and flies. Yea! But yikes, she is HUGE.
As I turn look slowly around me, trying to refocus my eyes into the thick tangle of lily leaves, I can see 2 more of these beauties. I tip toe my way outta there and decide the dead flower stalks can stay up a little longer. Besides, the spiders are using them to anchor their webs. Wouldn’t be right to mess up all that hard work.
