Prickles!

See the flower blooming from the basket?

Basket-flowers are not prickly.

Thistle. Ouch.

The bracts, the specialized leaves at the base of the thistle flower are very sharp.

See the basket?

  

The bracts at the base of a basket flower look like a woven basket.

Basket flower is also called "shaving brush".

Leaf-footed bugs, Leptoglossus phyllopus, are minor crop pests, but they make me laugh. They remind me of a pirate with a yellow belt. TAMU has a better image here. The leaf-footed bug is on the stem of the basket flower above.

Pink thistle + green insect = complementary color scheme.

Red admiral on basket flower.

Sphinx moth visiting basket flower.

It's a busy place!

Prickly pear cactus are prickly, too. Don't sit on one.