Small budget gardeners love artichokes because they are intensely beautiful, long lived and edible.
These 2-for-1 plants offer so many benefits your investment in buying them today is quickly covered by what they contribute in the garden and kitchen. Since they are perennial, the plant returns year after year to produce a larger foliage mass and more numerous stems. We have all seen the globe shaped heads in the supermarket, but few have seen where theses come from. These great perennials hardy to Zone 7 produce beautiful gray-green lobed leaves that are fabulous foliage in their own right, fitting nicely into beds and borders like an ornamental. They’re a graphic favorite of art nouveau design and look particularly wonderful as accents in Mediterranean style pots! When the plant bloom they send up a thick stem topped with a flower bud, which is the edible artichoke. If not picked in bud stage for eating, this bud matures into an enormous purple tufted thistle-like flower. If you’ve never grown one, try it this year in ground or in pots to enjoy a plant that offers so much beauty, of foliage and flower, while feeding your family this gourmet veggie the kids will love.

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