Dramatic garden plants or weeds?

It is  very hard to see a thistle as anything else but a weed.

But why?

Look at these wonderful giant thistles in the conservation garden at Acton Park.  They have been stunning all summer long with great purple flowers and now in autumn they remain even more majestic.

They are well over ten foot tall and there is a five foot cluster of them 

Thank goodness the local Park Rangers have not attempted to eradicate them from this garden.   

I think the thistles in this picture are the giant cotton thistle although the gardener referred to it as the 'snow thistle'.

Posted via email from Dave Futcher's blog