I found this rather captivating flower growing as a weed amongst the gravel of my driveway. I particularly noticed the three 'legs' spinning out from the centre, just like the Isle of Man's famous symbol. I can't say I've seen one before. Does anybody know what it is? It's only small – say 3cm across the flower itself.
Update: thanks to Jane whose comment below clued me in to the fact that this is a Nigella flower, commonly known as Love-in-a-mist.
What you are looking at there is a lovely nigella (“love in a mist” is I think the country name), of which there are wild and cultivated forms. The leaves are feathery and the seed pod is an attractive round, and once you have them, they self-seed everywhere – I love them. The common colours are shades of white and blue, but the seed companies have started to develop pink and even burgundy ones.
Jane – yes I think you’re spot on. Thanks! I notice that other pictures on the web often have more than three parts in the middle – usually 5 or 6. I’ll update the post now that I know what it is.