Probably one of the spring flowers that I have photographed most often are those of the purple thistle (Cirsium horridulum). They are a wonderful color and compared to a lot of other flowers they are very long lived. Last year I did a little photo essay of one flower going from the bud to the development of a big fluff of seeds. The images in that essay scanned a period of almost two months. Thistles also tend to flower well into the middle of summer, so there are plenty of opportunities to take pictures of them. Finally, these flowers attract a lot of pollinators, so they inadvertently get photographed while I’m taking pictures of bees, wasps, and butterflies, too.

The other day, I came home to find one of my thistles had just opened and there were spots of bright white pollen all over it. That stage doesn’t last long before the petals cover the center area and most of the pollen is gone, so I grabbed my camera and took some photos, including this one. I love the texture of the central area, and taken with my macro lens like this, the view is pretty unique and has nice color. I have lots of images of thistles, but none other like this one.