I love Carline thistles, their sculptural structure, the way they glisten in the sunshine, how lovely they look from the time of their bursting buds right through to the dried flowers that often last right through the winter.

And I’m not the only one who loves them. The flowers, which ‘open in warm, dry weather and close in the cool and wet’ (Flora Britannica), must be full of a particular nectar that appeals to our resident bumblebees (like this Common carder and Buff-tailed) as they love feasting on Carline thistles, and I rarely see other insects on them.