Yesterday we went to The Locks here in Seattle.  Apparently when a boat needs to leave the fresh waters of Seattle to go to the ocean, it travels through The Locks.  They are the mechnical gates that gradually lower the fresh water level to the ocean water level so that the boats going to the Pacific are gently allowed to enter into smoother waters, rather than bumping around into turbulent waves.  (Or so I understand.  I'm a bit mechnically inclined, but not to a great degree.)  One way or another, it was fascinating event to watch and apparently a routine done all hours of the day.  I was such a tourist!  Loving it. 

We also walked through the English Gardens next to The Locks where I photographed many the of the gardens.  I once again promised myself to work on painting more flowers -- there were more rhododendron than I've seen in years, hydrangea, small orange poppies, fuchsias...I could go on and on but I don't know all the names of everything I saw -- some of the flowers I had never seen before. There were horse chestnut trees in bloom, as well, and very verdant green lawns.  The weather was a bit misty, the sky had small patches of blue between the dominant clouds.  As we walked along the flower paths, I noticed an unusual plant with very serrated leaves, greyish-bluish foliage with a hint of green, just barely a hint, and what appeared to be a flower emerging from the center of the plant, although that was a slight stretch of the imagination, actually.  Neither of my companions had any idea what the plant was -- and I gave them time to think about it!  In the last two weeks I had planted this mystery plant in our yard in Colorado and had planted one many years ago in another garden.   What was it?  They gave up.  It was an artichoke plant.  One of my favorite foods....and a lovely ornamental plant, too.

Would you have been able to identify it?