Sea Holly

When you walk across the dunes you might come across

Eryngium maritimum (aka sea holly and seaside eryngo).

It's an endangered species so please don't take any plants or even seeds with you.

I really like this beautiful architectural thistle!

Wow! I had never seen this large insect before. It's a great golden sand digger

Scent

We tried to get rid of these vigorous eryngiums in the garden but they keep coming back.

The flowers look really good so we took a bunch into the house.
 It wasn't a good idea because of the awful smell! So we put the vase outside :-)

Think outside the box

We have been doing some shopping today :-)

We went to one of our favourite nurseries Bastin.

Normally we go there at least twice a year.

Today we realised, seeing the size of the plants in their borders,

that we have never been there so early in the year.

We bought:

Sambucus nigra 'black lace' = Eva

Angelica sylvestris 'Vicar's mead'

Thymus serpyllum 'Pink Chintz'

Eryngium giganteum 'Silver Ghost' 

Pycanthemum pilosum

Porteranthus trifoliatus (Gillenia trifoliata)