After Work...Bull Thistle

After visiting the Art Show at Oakland Camp on Saturday, I came home and sat in the shade of our birch trees to cool down.  The afternoon had been so hot I felt really lazy. But right in front of me was one of my favorite plants, a Bull Thistle, Cirsium somethingorother.  If it's C. vulgare, as I suspect, it is considered an invasive weed by most people.  There are dozens of species in California, but I'm pretty sure this one is C. vulgare.  Besides having beautiful flowers, they play host to many kinds of insects and my favorite spider, the Goldenrod Crab Spider.  It's also the national flower of Scotland!
After an evening of enjoying this and other "weeds" in our front lawn, I yielded to popular demand and free labor and thanked my son for mowing the lawn.  But, I know the thistles will be back.