The garden spider is usually not noticed until summer when she reaches maturity, but she has been in the area since leaving the egg sac as a spiderling. She and her siblings built orbs low in the grass. As they grew, the webs got higher and larger. At maturity, her body may be better than an inch long; with legs included, she may measure greater than 2 inches.

The males are patterned like the females, but are small and often have a web near the female's orb. One or more will spend their lifetime waiting for the opportunity to mate.

The garden spider weaves an orb up to 60 centimeters (2 feet) across. The spokes of her web are not sticky; these support the structure and are the threads the spider walks on. The sticky threads start an inch or so from the center. These are anchored on the spokes and spiral outward. The center of the orb is free of sticky threads; here the garden spider sits, head down, two pairs of legs back and two pairs forward, forming a large X.

Spider silk is strong; size for size, it is stronger than steel. And the garden spider;s web will trap insects as large as grasshoppers. She neatly wraps these treasures for later feasting—she is more than willing to aid and abet the war against bad bugs.

If her web is slightly damaged, it is repaired; badly damaged, it is rewoven. But before she spins the new webbing, she eats the old and broken pieces recycling the silk proteins. The garden spider will weave and reweave her orb, spending her life in the same location. In her web, she will weave a stabilimentum, a line of cross-stitches. The purpose of the stabilimentum is unknown; perhaps it strengthens the web, or attracts more insects, or maybe she is simply notifying large animals not to bungle into her artwork.

After mating in summer, she will weave a sac and lay around 500 eggs in it. The spiderlings will hatch in late summer/early autumn, but the siblings remain together in the sac. With the first hard frost of fall, mature garden spiders die; the spiderlings go dormant. They remain in the sac until spring. Of the original group, only a few will survive to maturity.

In the photograph, the spider is rebuilding her web. In her left hind leg, she is attaching a spoke strand to a leaf.

For more information on these beautiful and beneficial spiders, there are two great websites: "Yellow Garden Spider", Arthropod Museum Notes, The Arthropod Museum with the University of Arkansas and "Argiope aurantia", G. Hammond, Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology,1995-2006