I'm been wondering why I've never seen Orb Weaver's out here in Eastern WA...until after your post LOL! I went about the beds this morning checking seedlings and I came across an Orb style web I found attached between my Chives and Aster laevis, but couldn't find the spider. I know it's an Orb Weaver's web though! I'll go back out this evening and see if I can get a picture. Back home in ND and in NE we had them by the gazillions and I used to be extremely frightened of them (all spiders actually). These ones were the big black and yellow ones.... Given the fact that I live with Hobo Spiders here I've become more desensitized over the years LOL! Here is a link that might be useful:

Buy Home Defense. You can use inside your home & outside perimeter. It kills almost EVERYTHING! We live in Florida and I worked at Lowe's for awhile & learned all about how $7.99 saves us a lot of headache. You can simply spray in corner rooms or along the baseboards and you might see an increase as you disturb them & they disappear. This works for palmetto bugs, spiders, mites, ants, (although for ants I prefer Terro because it attracts the abyss they drink it go back to the nest and kills the entire nest. They also carry it in gallon jugs & refill bottles. You can get it at any store like Walmart, Target, Lowe's, Home Depot etc.

Nat, I did additional research, and I am 99% certain that these are Western Flower Thrips. While they do not generally cause damage, if brought inside, they can infest indoor flowers. I do a soak of my peonies before bringing them inside to get rid of ants on the blossoms, but apparently those thrips can withstand a greater time underwater! I soaked mine for 45 minutes and brought them inside and it seems as if MOST of them are gone. The water doesn't seem to have any adverse affect on the blooms, since they usually withstand the rain pretty well. Now, to practical matters. What do we do to get rid of these. There are a number of beneficial insects that will help get rid of them, but, I have found, that these seldom work. And not to mention expensive. What sucks is that they are on the blooms, which makes chemical controls a problem as well. If you Google the thrips and beneficials, you should be able to find a good selection. I am beyond that at this point. I see that my iris are also infested, although to a lesser extent. Diatomaceous Earth can be a good way, if used carefully to get them, BUT, again, they need to come in contact with it. I have a systemic organophosphate that I am going to use so that I can get the bugs without having to get the flowers. It has Acephate AND Fenbutaine Oxide, both will kill thrips, and since Acephate is systemic, it will get them without application to the flowers, although the time to get to the flowers probably won't matter THIS year. It will probably help your clematis. I am SURE there will be plenty of people with help on the non-chemical side. I used to be all chemicals - spray the nastiest thing I could find, and now that is a last resort, but these tiny things, in my view warrant it! By the way, LOVE your peony pics. I think we have at least one white variety in common, althoug I forget the name! Sorry for my long-windedness! You are the ONLY reply I have had - and I posted in the Pests/Diseases forum as well! Good luck!!!!

They look like chiggers. I get them every year. They cover my plants for a few weeks - persistent little boogers - but they never really do any harm. You can take the water hose to them if you need to put your hands in those areas. I don't know if it's the weather or something that eats them, but they always go away and never really do any damage. I can't tell from the picture, but are they webbing at all? If so then definitely not chiggers and I'd go with the baby spider idea. And Ken, I'm with you on leaving them alone in the garden. I HATE spiders. Lol So in the house, it's fair game. But in the garden, I hate damaging insects more so spiders become the good guys. They can hang around and eat all the aphids and mites to their little hearts content. I still don't have to like them, I just have to leave them alone. Haha. Nature has a way of balancing itself without our help. I've learned the hard way to leave well enough alone!