Apparently, this is a beneficial garden spider, called the Black and Yellow Garden Spider. (Gee, real creative naming there.) According to this site, here's the basic info on this thing:
The Black and Yellow Argiope is a common orb web spider. Orb web means it spins a web like a circle.
Female spiders are much larger than males, growing almost an inch and a half long. Males grow about 3/4 inch long. Both spiders have a cephalothorax (small front body section) with silver hairs on it. The abdomen (large back section) is egg-shaped with black and yellow coloring.
Legs of these spiders are black with red or yellow bands. Each leg has three claws on the end.
Black and Yellow Argiopes live in fields and gardens. They can be found on shrubs, tall plants, and flowers.
The web of this spider spirals out from the center and can be two feet across. The female builds the large web, and a male will build a smaller web on the outer part of her web. The male's web is a thick zig-zag of white silk.
Black and Yellow Argiopes eat flying insects that get trapped in the sticky web. The most common ones are aphids, flies, grasshoppers, bees, and wasps.
The spider hangs with her head down in the center of her web, waiting for prey to be caught. Sometimes she hides off to the side with a thin silk thread attched to her web. When an insect hits the web, the spider feels the vibrations and comes running.
These spiders prefer sunny places with little or no wind to build their webs. Each night, they eat their web and build a new one.
Now, the one in our garden was at least 8 inches across. Okay, so maybe only 2-3 inches, but it was huge! But, I did the right thing. I backed away and left it there to kill the many grasshoppers attacking our tomatoes. However, I did NOT pick that side of the building for the rest of the day, and won't go back any time soon, now that Jay informed me we have four "Charlottes" in that part of the cherry tomato building.
Just let Charlotte and her friends stay out of my house, and we'll get along just fine!
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