Cardoon is a tender columnar perennial treated as an annual with attractive but prickly deep-lobed grey-green foliage. Sturdy edible stalks sport large flowerheads that are also edible if unopened and bloom to thistle-like purple flowers. Best if grown in rich, consistently moist well-drained loamy soils. To harvest the stalks, wrap the inedible leaves around the stalks and blanched when stems reach 3', and the cut to the ground 4-6 weeks later.
|
Type: |
Annual |
|
Height: |
3' - 6' |
|
Spread: |
2’ - 3' |
|
Spacing: |
1.5' |
|
USDA Hardiness Zone: |
7 - 10 |
|
Culture: |
|
|
Bloom Color: |
Purple |
|
Season of Interest: |
MAINTENANCE NEEDS: Low Maintenance. Mulch in winter.
LANDSCAPE USES: Accents or Group Plantings, Borders, Wildlife Garden, Edible Garden, and Containers. Potential diseases include gray mold, powdery mildew and root rot. Watch for aphids, snails, slugs and blackfly.
COMPANION PLANTS: Dusty Miller, Snapdragon, Cushion Spurge
IMAGES: Acabashi, Globe artichoke Cynara cardunculus, Easton Lodge Gardens, Little Easton, Essex, England, CC BY-SA 4.0, (2) Acabashi, Cynara cardunculus, Easton Lodge Gardens, Little Easton, Essex, England 2, CC BY-SA 4.0, (3) Burkhard Achilles, 34.1-Cynara cardunculus, Artischocke, Kloster Michaelstein, 02-08-2015, CC BY-SA 4.0, (4) Joanbanjo, Camp de penques al Poble Nou, CC BY-SA 3.0, (5) Rudolphous, 20210620 Hortus botanicus Leiden - Cynara cardunculus (leaves), CC BY-SA 4.0
*As plants have ranges in appearance they may not appear as the images shown.
.jpg){kind=link}