Cards in Bloom!

In the back of our garden, there's a few special thistle plants: Weaver's cards. They are quite similar to the wild card plants, but their heads are a little more cylindrical than conical, and a bit firmer.

And to my delight, they are now blooming: 

 It's not looking too spectacular, the flowers - but I think it fascinating how they start in the middle and then the flower strip, consisting of a lot of single small blossoms, goes both upwards and downwards.