Hey there,
We've got a couple of these popping up in the garden. Haven't seen any in the wild so figure previous owners had them. No idea what they might be. Flowers start yellow then turn reddish-orange from the middle out. Very distinctive "crown" of leaves around the blooms. Thistles on leaves. Any ideas?

Centaurea macrocephala?

close, but nope, not quite.

My first thought was maybe Sow Thistle but I'm not sure; my eyes aren't what the used to be: http://www.wildflowersofontari...
Smooth Sow Thistle (Sonchus oleraceus)

I looked at that one too but no it isn't it. Thanks though!

Safflower? Dropped any birdseed? There are no pics in the database so here are Google ones:

Safflower, Carthamnus tinctorius:
https://www.google.ca/search?q...

Sure looks a lot like Safflower; check out the bud image here: https://www.google.com/search?...

I do believe you've both nailed it! Thank you!
Yes, we feed the birds all year.

Maybe you'd like to add your pictures to the database since there are none there for safflower?

There are a few photos in the database for Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) but we need more ... and currently there are no good bud or leaf photos so you really should upload a few of your pic's Lee Anne!

So what did I do wrong? I typed Carthamnus tinctorius into the database and it took me to a page for the plant but with no pictures. I just tried it again and same thing.

@Sooby, looks like there are duplicate entries for C. tinctorius.
Type in Carthamnus and only two show up: http://garden.org/plants/brows...
Type in Safflower and all show: http://garden.org/plants/searc...

The entry probably needs to be deleted since there is another entry with info and photos.

Maybe @zuzu, or @Calif_Sue can help.

The name of the genus is Carthamus. Those two "Carthamnus" entries were misspelled duplicates, so I deleted them.

again. Thanks zuzu.