"eva shovelful" wrote in message

we have come across not one, but three very
large black widow spiders. Being benevolent and not apt to freak out
in spite of the fact that these spiders ARE poisonous, I looked it up
on the internet and found out that they're not aggressive.
And
yesterday, hidden in some rhizomes of iris, my husband, Henry found
yet another one of these things! Is this normal?

Being in Australia, I know nothing about the insects of the USA, but having
said that, it seems from what others have said that it is quite normal for
them to occur in your area. I do know that your Black Widows and our Red
Back Spiders are related and I have lots of Red Backs in my garden.

Welcome them because a good spider and bird population tell you that your
surroundings are worth living in because it hasn't been nuked till it glows.
:-))

My attitude is the more naturally occurring insects and birds and even
reptiles (and sometimes that even included [shudder!] snakes) the better.

I mean, I realize
that they are not aggressive, or at least the article about them says
they're not, and yesterday it unsettled me enough that I squashed her
good. But the second one is now unaccounted for in the garden that I
will be working in come spring time.

Never garden without gloves or wearing shoes and socks is my motto (not that
I always obey the shoes and socks bit- silly of me given my situation).


By the way, how do I find out what garden zone I am in? I
am very frustrated with the local extension agents here because it's
predominately a farming area on a large and commercial scale. Mostly
corn, soybeans, millet and cotton. I haven't seen much in the way of
unique plantings, yet. But now that we've moved here, I hope to break
that common thread I see in every yard. Nandina, crape myrtles, all
seemingly the watermelon color or white ones, mums, celosia (a local
woman called them cocks combs) lots of boxwood, Banana plants of all
things, canna's, elephant ears and lantana that apparently comes
back. So I need to find out how to find the gardening limit zone for
growing. Any ideas?

:-)) Another American woman in another gorup I read has been commenting on
the uniformity and lack of variety and originality of planting in her area
:-))

Perhaps that is all that is available to buy in local nurseries??? Perhaps
the local arent' very adventurous or dont' know what else is available???
Perhaps you'll just have to do some trial and error planting and get
plants/seeds in from mail order nurseries.