It looks alarming, but the yellow garden spider is harmless to people and one of the most effective insect hunters in the garden.
The yellow garden spider is a large orb-weaving spider found throughout much of North America.
In fall, female yellow garden spiders produce distinctive egg sacs.
Garden spiders often rest with their legs held together in pairs, forming an X shape.
Many hunt on the ground, on plants or on flowers, and all of them eat insects.
They eat pests: aphids, flies, caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles and many other insects that damage plants.
Avoid broad-spectrum insecticides, which kill spiders along with pests.
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