Might be Araneus diadematus, or try searching for photos of the Araneus genus which may end up taking you to bugguide.net, if not, try them directly.

Danetherton is the only one who's got it in the ballpark. This is one of the Dolomedes genus, also known as "Fishing" or "Dock" spiders, and they are in the Pisauridae family, which includes the Nursery Web Spiders. Based on the light-colored cephlathorax, the geographic range and the size, it's most likely a large female Dolomedes albineus, or White-Banded Fishing Spider. While a bite would hurt, these are not medically-significant in terms of venom and are not aggressive at all. I have caught related species, D. tenebrosus and D. triton, in fishing nets and handled them without incident, even though the former were as large as my hand, and I've also kept D.okefinokensis in captivity, again, without any sign of aggression or threat display. The position of this spider's legs is highly typical of all Pisauridae spiders and sets it apart from Lycosids(Wolf Spiders)and Sparassidae(Huntsmen). It bears absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to any of the Recluse species, which are certainly not capable of attaining legspans of 5-6 inches! Here is a link that might be useful: Dolomedes albineus

I have been growing sweet peas on my balcony and a few days ago noticed this strange looking spider thing sitting on its egg! Have now realised there are loads of tiny little green things on other parts of same plant. Have tried looking closely and they don't look as though they have wings, there are also 3 or 4 empty egg sacs around leaves so I am wondering if they are babies of the spider thing?? Have looked at the spider, it definitely has 8 legs but can't find anything that looks like it on Google pics! Please can anyone help identifying what these are and how I can fix this problem? Thank you.

It can be difficult to ID some spiders from the underside, especially when the top and bottom are so different from each other. But this spider is the black and yellow garden spider, just one of the common names for Argiope aurantia She is one of the most beautiful creatures in the garden, and often found near our homes. Since she's diurnal, we get to observe her during the day.....toss a live insect into the web and watch the action.