Thistle Surprise You – Maybe

Well it surprised me anyway.  The lovely blue thistle Eryngium bourgatii grows prolifically in grassy meadows in the Picos.  I suppose it makes sense when you think of our ordinary thistles and how they too grow in meadows, but it was the sight of such an attractive and desirable plant (for the border anyway) as a prickly nuisance in hay meadows that caught my eye.