Eryngium

Previously I blipped this in mono, but now the plant has flowered fully so this shows the oddly icy blue it takes on in summer. The colour seems to make the spines look even sharper. The only other plant we have that rivals it for painful spikiness is mahonia. Still, in spite of its formidable defences it's a wonderful feature in the border, and is currently attracting a lot of honeybees, which I've otherwise seen very few of this year so far. A great plant all round.