Although the city-sponsored program of corner parks is the springboard for this blog, one of the joys we've found in Edmonds is how widely spread and imaginative all the garden spots are.
One of the many ways in which these places delight is by giving us the opportunity to see some particularly stunning variety of plant for the first time.
Yesterday evening, on our way to the Sea Jazz concert, my wife and I stumbled across this spectacular blue-stemmed thistle just north of Anthony's.
The plant is mind-blowing in every way. The spiky petals make a corona-like setting for the thumb-sized flower with its many tiny antennae. The most eye-jolting thing about this thistle, though, is its blue stem!
I hope you enjoy both pictures above, and that you have a chance to go by and see this thistle on your way to hearing some excellent music by the EWHS Jazz Colony band. Sea Jazz concerts (one of the other free delights of this fair town) are held all summer, 5-7 Wednesdays and 1-3 Sundays. The tuba solo on "St. James Infirmary" is especially recommended.
To get in the mood, here's an animated Cab Calloway version of that classic, as mind-blowing in its own way as is this thistle.