I discovered a new tenant in my garden today

I was more than a little worried upon going out to check my garden today (which is right on my front deck in a group of buckets and planter boxes) for ripe tomatoes and discovered this very scary looking resident. The body alone is at least an inch long and with those long legs it looks enormous!( scary looking guest under the cut )

I called hubby out to bring his phone so I could take a picture, he was sure it must be deadly, his reasoning was because it's so pretty. Upon looking it up it's a Argiope aurantia commonly known as the yellow garden spider. While it is venomous it's said these spiders are not aggressive. They might bite if grabbed, but other than for defense they do not attack large animals and their bite is like a bee sting. So even though I'm not a huge fan of spiders, for now, I'm adopting the live and let live philosphy. Maybe she'll eat enough mosquitos to earn her keep.