Nature Notes: Spooky

I've been saving this one for Halloween week, because spiders kind of creep me out. These webs, spotted on a recent walk through Ludington State Park in Michigan, were completely invisible unless viewed from exactly the right angle. I had never known multiples of these to occur together and felt very lucky to have seen them. I didn't see the little artists who made them, though, so I can't tell you what sort of spiders they were.

I think the black, spiky seed pods of velvet leaf have a spidery, spooky look too. It's considered a noxious weed and is not native. But I like to let one or two grow in the pasture to provide pods and branches for Halloween decorations. This year's crop popped up next to the compost pile and reached a full six feet in height. My buffet currently hosts an entire skeletal plant, with candles and witchy-looking things mixed in. I'll have to shake all the seeds out before returning it to the yard, because it really does need to be controlled.









    
For more Nature Notes, visit Michelle and her guests at Rambling Woods. And then stop by at I Heart Macro, at Shine the Divine.