Eryngium

The Eryngiums are just getting their unreal metallic blue colour, and the bees have got to work on the tiny florets that make up the central cone. This one seems to have gathered plenty of pollen (I presume), perhaps from a nearby Hypericum whose flowers are an intense yellow. Of three eryngiums we have, only this one is flowering well now. I think they suffered a bit when we dug out and re-planted the border couple of years ago, or maybe they just don't last forever.