I first need to commend you on this initiative of giving back to your community courtesy of steemit
I have to dug up what thistle plant is all about after reading through (no knowledge is a waste)
According to wikipedia, "Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae."
Comparing this with those characteristics of scottish you state above, it can be conclude that the gentleness of a scottish shouldn't be taken for stupidity.
They got a great history of craving out a symbol from the plant and also standing as a long life representation of whom they were.
kudos on the drawing. It's pretty cool.
Thank you @fadiji09, you can also eat the thistle, the root makes a good tonic for detoxing the liver. I didn't put that bit of data in, I like the legends around the Scottish thistle .
You have to dig down deep to get all the root, I put lots of hours into digging our tansy and thistle plants growing up and working on our farm.
The post is more loaded and some exempted info might not be seen.
The thistle will grow just about anywhere from rich soils to poor, it is very hardy and the seeds have a downy umbrella that is used to ride the wind.