Self-sowing Spider flowers are tall, quick-growing annuals

If you have a garden, you probably have garden spiders. Thankfully, most garden spiders are not aggressive. However, folklore says that the bite of the Italian wolf spider makes the victim weep, and then go into a wild convulsive dance. The dance supposedly sweats the venom out of the body.

Dancing from spider bites aside, there is always room in the garden for more spiders, or spider flowers, the cleomes (Cleome hassleriana).

These fast growing annuals shoot up in a few months to a towering four or five feet tall. The flowers are stunning, with clusters, or umbels, of flowers, each with four petals and six very long stamens, giving them an exotic, spidery look. The blooms come in soft pinks, lavender, purple and white. Because of their height and airy, fern-like foliage, they do best in masses at the back of a border or along a driveway and wildflower plantings. These are real garden workhorses, starting to bloom in just 12 weeks, and blooming until killed by frost. In windy areas you may have to stake them to prevent toppling over. Otherwise, cleomes are famously free of disease and insects. The nectar-rich flowers attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

The most famous variety of cleome is the Queen Series with Rose Queen, Violet Queen, White Queen and others that not only share the regal name, but are all non-hybrid, open- pollinated heirlooms. A newer, shorter variety of cleome is the first hybrid cleomes, the Sparkler Series. These All-America Selections only grow three feet tall, so they can even be grown in large pots. Best of all, they are one of the easiest flowers to grow from seed.

Plant cleomes in full sun. Cleome seeds need light to germinate, so for an informal planting you can scatter the seed directly on the soil.

For a more formal look, plant the seeds three or four inches apart, in rows 18 to 24 inches apart. Sow the seed just one-eighth inch deep and leave uncovered so they get the sunlight they need to germinate. They should germinate in eight to 12 days. Once the plants are up, thin them to 18 to 24 inches apart.

Cleome flowers are drought tolerant and light feeders, so they do fine with just average garden soil and no additional fertilizer. In fact, too-rich soil can make the plants grow tall and leggy.

The fruit is a capsule containing several seeds. Spider flowers often self-sow, so you may find random seedlings or volunteers next spring.

Plant cleomes and you will have an effortless garden of spiky flowers and long seedpods. These spider flowers will bring beneficial insects to work in your garden. As for that Italian wolf spider and the wild dance? Turns out the bite of the wolf spider (Lycosa tarentula) is rarely dangerous to humans and the dance story just an Italian folktale. The lively dance, however, survives in 6/8 time, tambourines and all, now called the tarantella.