Thistles: the darker side of summer

Wenlock Edge This time of year, summer throws up the surprising and dangerous, as if to show that beauty and pain are never far apartThistles are weeds of ill-repute. In these dog days they make their presence felt, springing like booby traps, their shaving-brush flowers oddly pinkish and purpley, a bit psychedelic for something so spiky. Edgy as the scream of swifts over rooftops, tough as old boots, thistles are the underestimated flowers of summer. Throughout history they have represented the