The temperatures are slowly edging downwards. Most nights this past week it has been only a couple of degrees above zero. Mornings are misty before the sun breaks through, and the plants are all covered in dew. And cobwebs!
The tall whippy stems of the Verbena Bonariensis seem to be the spiders' favourite anchoring points, giving ample opportunity for complex and artistic configurations.
Actually, I have also been very impressed with the Verbena. Having bought it earlier this year as a tiny plant in a 5-inch pot, I have seen it grow to over five feet tall and put up about a dozen main stems, each of which has produced several subsidiary stems full of flowers. Those flowers are incredibly long-lasting too. Each one seems to last for weeks and weeks. This plant allegedly self-seeds readily, but I don't mind if it does!
Here's one of the spiders bundling up some unfortunate insect in layers of gossamer, almost like one of us would prepare an enchilada or a wrap!
There are plenty of other signs of Autumn in the garden too. The russetted leaves of the Callicarpa bush are having their moment of glory before falling off and handing over the limelight to the bright purple berries.
In similar fashion the leaves of the Dogwood shrubs go through a brief phase of intense colour prior to revealing their stems. This one is Cornus Alba "Kesselringii", whose stems in Winter are very dark, almost black.
Not long now till Halloween. You can see where the association of spiders' webs with Halloween comes from, can't you? They are everywhere just now.
Beautiful. I love verbena as well. It is a good self-seeder.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great time of year for spiders webs, you can really see where they all are first thing on a morning. We've had a spider living on the outside of our window for about six weeks, it was fascinating watching him eat his web before opening the curtains the following morning to see he'd spun another. Unfortunately, the window cleaners came last week, but he was moved to safety in the plants before they arrived.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos of the spider webs. Our dogwood leaves haven't started turning color yet but the berries are keeping the birds busy.
ReplyDeleteI find spider webs fascinating too but am always paranoid that I will walk into one and then unknowingly have a spider crawling on me. I usually move spiders that have built webs in high traffic spots but it still occasionally happens. I'm sure it's quite the sight as I frantically run my hands all over to make sure that I don't have any hitchhikers.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures! :)
ReplyDeleteYes the dogwoods are something to look forward to . Aren't those red stems gorgeous ! Verbena bonariensis...you'll always have it now , popping up to delight you next year and the years to come ...the bees and butterflies love it...and its wonderful to say too....Verbena bonariensis : )
ReplyDeleteSpiders are incredible creatives Martyn once filmed one spinning a web and slowed down the action and it was fascinating.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pics. The webs are amazing as are the Verbenas. We are on the watch for spider webs now as the weather is warming up. They are coming out everywhere.
ReplyDeleteExcellent shots of the spider webs. It must be magical to wake up to webs and dew.:) Beautiful both the purple berries and the dogwood leaves.
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