Bold and Beautiful

I had seen one of these gorgeous plants before but not for a while, so when I spotted this in the garden while on my way back from a friends house I almost did an emergency stop, luckily enough I had my camera with me!

Think they are part of the artichoke family and after googling, they may be called Cynara Cardunculus, whatever their real name they are glorious in the garden and are fascinating to look at and........ to photograph

This picture is as I took it with no alterations at all....look at that colour!!!!