One of the struggles of gardening far in the north is that there is winter. Winter can really suck sometimes, especially when you want to grow plants that are marginally hardy. One of the plants that I really have wanted to grow is the cardoon plant. Growing cardoons in zone 5 and even zone 6, can be a difficult thing to do. This is the surprising story of how I managed to overwinter cardoons in zone 5-6ish NY.
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| The surviving cardoon in late May 2014 |
Two years ago, I planted a row of cardoons that was about a dozen plants or so. They all looked fine in the fall, but only one remained in the spring. That plant was my lucky break, because somehow it beat the odds and lived. That year, I planted a few more cardoons to grow alongside it, just to have more plants. Along came winter, and you guessed it. They all died except that one.
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| The flower bud looks like a spiky artichoke |
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| Last year's plant |
The cardoon plant looks like it has a much better head start this year than it had last year. This picture on the left was taken sometime in July, as the runner beans were flowering at the same time. This year, my debate will be whether or not to let it flower to make more seed. Then I need to decide if it is worth cutting in the fall for some delicious pan-fried dinner.
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| Speckled cardoon seeds |
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| Dry cardoon flowers containing more seeds |
Whatever happens over this winter, I should still have seeds left over from my champion cardoon. The little speckled seeds are just amazing to look at, just like scarlet runner bean seeds and other bean seeds. Dried flower heads also make a nice decoration for the house with their spiky lobes and fuzzy tops. I will likely post again to see how the champion cardoon's offspring fared this year. I just hope they can take the winter!
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