We also love handing out candy and hope that the chilly rain doesn't keep too many trick or treaters away. It's cool enough so that I can wear my Absolem caterpillar costume that I sewed for myself a few years back. It's heavy on quilt batting and super hot normally!

The spiders are 'interesting'. While I respect their place in nature I am seriously arachnophobic.

Ill play along here's a garden spider from my patio I know they're beneficial but I don't like them. I tolerate them but I don't like them. The other is an intact skeleton I saw hiking. I think it was a possum ...

There are all kind of spiders in my garden since I do not use any kind of insecticide. However, I have not seen argiopes spiders in my garden this year. I wonder why.

Omar

Pam, your costume sounds like a lot of fun!

Todd, thanks for playing. That is one scary skeleton!

Omar, I'll have them one year and then not the next. I don't know why, but wondered if maybe it rained so much at certain times the newly hatched garden spiders drowned.

Anybody else wanna' post your scary/fun ideas or photos? You're invited to do so.

Those 2 pics with & without flash are great Ragna, particularly the photo without flash. I like how you captured the nocturnal spooky mood, with the web visible in the darkness, and no color except for the dark blue & ultraviolet sky. Not an easy feat snapping pictures at night without blurring due to relatively long shutter speed. (added note - I had my monitor's brightness turned down that evening so the pic display was automatically enhanced, w less contrast, etc)

On the subject of Halloween, let me veer off with a brief ode to plants with various shades of orange pigment (compliments of b-carotene and related carotenoids). I'm happy with my plain mono-color zinnia and marigold. One of the landscape plants that came with my house was Ixora -add link- (Maui red variety, which is actually a very soft yet rich orange). Also I should look into pumpkin as a sort of groundcover with the yellow-orange flowers and sprawling vine.

Can anyone give me some clues on Texas lantana please? I want one that's yellow and orange only, if possible. I planned to purchase some at the latest plant sale at my local SABG, but their young ones were already showing a wider range of colors (candy pink, etc) so I passed. Is there a variety of Texas lantana that's yellow and orange only?

Dan, the photo you liked was just a lucky shot! Thanks for commenting.

Thanks to Todd it looks like you got a good lead on a very brilliant, to say the least, yellow/orange lantana.

Yeah! Radiation is aptly named. When I started shopping for TL late summer, the nearby places only had multi-colored varieties. So did the SABG sale.

re: "the photo you liked was just a lucky shot..." No, really, how'd you do it? j/k

btw I can see more than 7 colors but can only name 7. Even then, e.g. in marigolds can't distinguish where yellow ends & orange begins. Looks good in any case.

p.s. anyone who knows about Concord grapes and wants some. I got a bunch harvested 4 days ago from the Great Lakes region, they'll be good for ~ another week w/refrigeration. in San Antonio