Mine do this every year when it starts to get too warm. I spray with water to wash all the aphids off, then spray with a mixture of neem/peppermint castille soap and water. I do this every 5-7 days and if it needs a water spray in-between, go ahead.

I have planted J. Artichokes twice in my garden. I have Sandy Soil. Now,the first planting came from a health food market in the produce section. Just bought them, broke them up in sections and planted them about 8" deep. They all came up with no problem. That was last spring. Now I have gotten some from a friend who plants them for shelter for his quail.( He has a bird farm). He has Clay soil. They have not spread from the original row, even though he just mows the dead stalks off in the fall. They only propagate from the bulbs so if you want to get rid of them I would dig them up and SIFT the soil through a wire sieve. I think they are like potatoes in that the smallest piece left in the ground will grow. If you are in an area that freezes hard maybe you could dig them up and leave the hole open and exposed to the frost. I froze one overnite and thawed it and it turned black and looked like a truffle. Boiled until still very firm they taste like artichoke hearts and can be frozen. They have no starch and are fed to diabetes patients in the hospitals in Germany according to a german friend.

Try this artichoke and white bean dip. It's a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe. 2 tbls olive oil 1 small onion chopped 200g artichoke hearts in olive oil, drained, oil reserved 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped A few sprigs of oregano leaves, chopped 400g tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed juice of half a lemon 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes 2 tbls thick, plain yogurt 25g toasted walnuts s & p Heat 1 tbls oil and fry the onion. Chop the artichoke hearts. Add garlic to the pan and stir for a couple of mins. Add oregano, beans, and chokes and cook until everything is heated. Tip mix into a food processor and add the lemon juice, chilli and yogurt. Blend to a corse puree. Season and add oil from the artichoke tin until you get the consistence you want. Serve warm or cold, scattered with chopped walnuts.

You get more light for the same wattage with an LED lamp. If you need more light, use an LED. But that fixture isn't really designed to illuminate a whole room. The leaves are arranged to primarily direct light downward. Could be nice atmospheric mood lighting, but you'd need to supplement with buffet lamps (if you have an open floor plan, light from adjacent spaced would help). As far as the different colors looking different, I suspect that someone used an image of a small or large size when they should have used an image of a medium fixture.