Cynara Species, Artichoke Thistle, Cardoon

On Jan 24, 2017, AlohaMontanaDesign from Grover Beach, CA wrote:

See the series of cookbooks, (County) The Beautiful Cookbook.

The Italy version had recipes for Cardoon.

On Dec 10, 2012, coriaceous from ROSLINDALE, MA wrote:

An extraordinary plant, beautifully and dramatically architectural. The silvery color of the foliage is a great foil to other colors.

Blooms in late August in Southborough, MA Z5-6. The flowers are big and beautiful and showy, more blue than violet, but they don't last long, and the whole plant deteriorates and needs lots of cutting back in succession after bloom. (In fact, the only maintenance issue arises from the need to remove a fading leaf at the base almost every week, there always seems to be one or two.) The only spines are on the bracts at the base of the flowers---there are ornamental strains without spines on the petioles. We haven't seen any self-sowing, but we've dead-headed.

I've been astonished to find two of these have returned faithfully for ... read moreat least the last four years (and perhaps more) with no special protection. They get full sun and good drainage, and are a few feet from a south-facing brick wall. Each is the major focal point of the bed in which it resides. We've also inherited a cardoon in a border in Jamaica Plain, MA Z6a, which has gotten through at least 3 winters.

Update: This last season (2013) I grew a culinary strain from seed, 'Rouge d'Alger' (which was claimed to be spineless but has spines along the petioles). The fleshy petioles were attractively tinted pink. Plants grew to about 2' in one season.

Of the older plants, one blackened and died this season, and its replacement's leaves also blackened before it too died. I wonder, could cardoons' longevity here be limited not so much by winter hardiness as by a susceptibility to disease due to our humidity and year-round rainfall? After all, they evolved in a Mediterranian climate.

Update May 2014: None of these plants survived this last unusually cold winter 2013-2014. I will continue to grow them as annuals/temperennials.

According to BONAP, cardoons have naturalized in North America only in the west coast states.

On May 13, 2012, Bellafina2003 from City View, SC wrote:

I planted this about 3 years ago, I am impressed and happy with its interesting architectural form , and the flowers are beautiful. My specimen is now over 6 ft tall and has at least 8 or 9 flower buds. It is planted in a well drained bed that has not had many soil amendments added. It has survived through the few snow and ice events we have had in the past 2 winters.

On Aug 8, 2011, Hoki from Katikati, BoP,
New Zealand wrote:

Our large rural property, in the Bay of Plenty, NZ, borders onto a paddock with a fence and pittosporum hedge between. We have underplanted the hedge with cardoon and in late summer(March) the show is stunning with the purple flower heads and silver foliage. Dead heading is imperative but we toss the heads back under the hedge for next years show. Stunning plant!

On Feb 25, 2010, Fleurs from Columbia, SC wrote:

Started from wintersowing several years ago, my cardoon has never managed to get very large. I made the mistake of planting the cardoon under a limbed up crepe myrtle so it may not get enough sun.

Still, I love the jagged silver leaves, especially during winter in my 7b/8a garden.

The plant's summer blooms are endearingly amusing, like a purple punk hairstyle. After flowering, cardoon seems to shrivel and die, but it's only resting until the weather cools in the fall.

On Jul 29, 2009, mstasney from Buda, TX wrote:

While I have found the propagation by seed to be a little difficult in greenhouse conditions, it is truly an amazing plant and one every gardener should have.

Has anyone tried to collect the dried seeds directly from the dried flowers/thistle? If so, can you share success/failure stories?

Thanks

On Nov 11, 2007, cowboydj from Rosenberg, TX wrote:

I was first introduced to Cardoon in Texas A&M University's Holistic Garden. Its size and unusual appearance literally "stopped me in my tracks"!! I asked, "What is THAT????" I've wanted one for myself for about two years and, now, have two. I'm so excited and can't wait to get them in the ground. Wish me luck!!!

On Jun 30, 2006, mamajack from Fate, TX (Zone 8a) wrote:

this is a tough plant but i started out with 2. i tried to move one and was unable to get all of the root. it died and it did not come back from the remaining root. i have the remaining plant in full texas sun all day on the west side. it lives in hard packed clay soil without any supplemental water. it does get huge. i have never had even one volunteer seedling. several years ago it was attacked by leaf footed bugs. i thought it had died but next spring it was back. it does have spiny leaves. this plant provides winter interest by leaving the plant stalk and dried flower heads.

On May 1, 2006, vossner from East Texas,
United States (Zone 8a) wrote:

I like this plant because it is dramatic. Love the coloring. Its grayish (sp?) leaves against other plants is very visually pleasing, to me, anyway. Since I have only had it for about a year, can't say anything about its invasiveness. so far no problem. Planted inground, full sun. As of this writing, plant is in bloom, it is all I can do not to cut the flower and bring it inside the house. Quite stunning!

On Aug 30, 2004, CaptMicha from Brookeville, MD (Zone 7a) wrote:

A very hardy plant but not hard to eliminate in my opinion. The best way to get rid of unwanted plants in by digging up as much of the root as possible. They don't like to be disturbed and have always died when I've done it.

DO NOT let this plant go to seed b/c the seed are carried by animals, especially birds and mice making nests and they carry on the wind. If seeds gets away, cardoon will sprout anywhere it lands.

Japanese beetles target this plant. Other then other beetles, I haven't observed other pests.

On Aug 10, 2004, inheritedgarden from Edison, NJ wrote:

We bought a house that came with a large (20' x 40') garden last summer... we weren't sure what would grow this year, so I took a "wait and see" approach.... well, we have/had cardoon and my FIL actually knew what it was, etc. so I had planned to blanche some of it, and harvest it. It grew to about 6 ft tall, and a huge rainstorm flattened just about all of it. Part of it fell over into the "lawn" portion of our yard, and proceeded to sprout in the grass, so we pushed it all back into the garden. Because it is so attractive to bees, I had to wait until this past weekend's 70 degree/cloudy weather to pull it out. New growth had started to grow from the now flattened, but not dead stalks. It's quite hardy and that's not a good thing. 5 hours and 14 plastic garbage bags later, it is mo... read morestly gone... we chose plastic over paper leaf bags to avoid spreading it to anyone else in our town. We have since found more cardoon growing in all parts of our garden, lawn, and other parts of the yard. If you choose to grow cardoon, make sure you tend to it daily, and you want it. We were unlucky that we didn't know what was what and we had never gardened before. Our variety was quite spiny and even wearing leather gloves, my forearms were "stuck" over and over again and appear to have a rash.

On Jul 23, 2004, foodiesleuth from Honomu, HI (Zone 11) wrote:

I'm happy to report that cardoon will grow in the Waimea (Kamuela) area of the Big Island in Hawaii. It was planted as an experiment for a cooking demonstration that would be presented by Mario Batali (Molto Mario) during a food seminar in Hawaii in March 03....the plants were planted months in advance and did great. The presentation went quite well and we all got to taste cardoon with handmade pasta made with semolina, which we helped prepare.

Since then the Hirabara Farm (small boutique farm) where the demonstration/cooking class took place, has been continuing to grow it. The farm is located at about the 3,000 foot elevation

On Jun 21, 2004, suncatcheracres from Old Town, FL wrote:

I grew cardoon several years ago in an Atlanta suburb, zone 7b, from a packet of seeds. I had about a half dozen plants survive the ravages of rampaging leafhoppers that devoured most of my seedlings, and one cardoon grew to about 8 feet tall, with gorgeous purple-blue thistles. This plant was in the front yard, near the street, and everyone commented on it.

The others only grew to about 3 feet, and none of them survived a very cold winter at almost a 1,000 feet high--Atlanta can be a very cold place indeed, in the winter, despite being in the South, and I was sad that they didn't come back, as this was a very attractive plant. Obviously it is not invasive in that climate. I tried eating some of the new leaves, as the Romans ate it, but they were very bitter.

On Jun 28, 2003, boggins wrote:

It readily escapes from captivity. With few natural enemies in North America it can be an expensive invader of parks and other natural areas, and should not be used near or upwind of them.

On Oct 20, 2002, welshherblady from Isle of Anglesey,North Wales,
United Kingdom (Zone 8a) wrote:

An attractive architectural plant which grows best in poor soil.Is tolerant of salty breezes(sea).
Often to be found by roadsides where it has selfseeded,probably by seed carried by birds.

On Aug 11, 2001, mystic from Ewing, KY (Zone 6a) wrote:

A tender perennial that can grow 6 to 8 feet high. The gray-green leaves overlap at the base and can get up to 20 inches long with ovate to linear-lance shaped segments and deep basal lopes. The wide, plump, edible stems form loose stalks or heads like celery. Cardoons keep their vase shape until late in the season, when a branching ,gray-wooly central stem shoots up. Several buds, which resemble small artichokes, grow atop this stem. These grow into purple thistle like flowers which are 1 1/2- 3 inches across.