Ok, I’ll admit it — I am not a fan of spiders. Black widows must die at my home because I just can’t bear the thought of dealing with the aftermath of their poisonous bite for me or my dog.
But spiders are actually good for your landscape as they feed on the pests in and around your home, yard and garden. In fact, there is a beautiful specimen of a black and yellow garden spider that’s decided to build a web right on the path from my backyard into my house. But instead of getting rid of her, I’ll just relocate her to a less busy part of my landscape where she can kill and eat as many bugs as she wants.
Banana spiders, which are often confused for black and yellow garden spiders, are also good for your landscape because they prey on a wide variety of medium to small size flying insects including leaf-footed bugs and mosquitoes.
Remember, not all spiders need to be dealt with by shoe or pesticide. A majority of them are quite harmless and pose no threat to you if you leave them alone.