Bee bubble

... on an Eryngium. This one is Eryngium giganteum Miss Willmott's Ghost named after Ellen Willmott, a Victorian horticulturalist, self-taught, who transformed the garden of her family home at Warely Place in Essex into one the most famous gardens in England. It seems she was a bit of an eccentric character. Legend has it that she set booby traps in the garden to catch imagined daffodil thieves, and that she carried a loaded revolver in her purse. Well, why wouldn't you! She bought houses in Europe and lavished money on the gardens, employed hundreds of gardeners, funded plant hunting expeditions and bought vast numbers of plants. She died penniless in 1934 having pretty much spent the entire family fortune on her properties here and abroad. Her legacy permeates modern gardening with around 60 plants bearing the name Ellen Willmott, Willmott or Warley, including a zinnia, a sweet pea and a lilac. 

This eryngium, or giant sea holly, is her most well known namesake. Apparently she used to sneakily scatter eryngium seeds in friends' gardens. Given their stature and ethereal appearance, they somehow acquired the nickname Miss Willmott's Ghost, as if she is a constant presence in all those gardens.

They may look soft and pliable but are actually stiff and spiky, they are a massive bee and butterfly magnet, constantly humming with slightly crazed-looking bees on a mission to get all that nectar.