What an excellent thread. Thanks to everyone who has been here before me. Gophers rule here, so my artichokes are planted in raised (really really raised at 2' off the ground) beds with gopher wire on the ground under the whole bed. For me the whole point of growing my own artichokes is to get them when they are young and small and I can steam 3-4 of them for myself....yum. Here are my questions: In my Zone 8b, should I cut the whole plant all the way to the ground about now, or just the old blooming stalks? I just went out today and pulled out all of the dead and dying leaves from the outside and there are still a lot of healthy primary plants or crowns in there. Clearly this bed is overcrowded. Should I try to dig the whole (please please please say "no") plants out and reduce them in size, or can I just take the pups off of the outside (oh that would be sooooooo much easier). Any help would be appreciated. Susan

This is an update to my 2006 list. We've added many more varities and most things are fruiting now. FRUIT & SPICE TREES Acai Palm Allspice Ambarella Apple Anna Apple Dorset Golden Atemoya Gefner Grafted Avacado Haas Avacado Fuerte Banana Bay Rum Blackberry Black Sapote Seedless Black Walnut Blueberry Blueberry Gulf Coast Blueberry Sharp Blueberry Windsor Cocao Calomondin Camellia Sinesis, Tea Cashew Apple Cercropia Cherry Black Grafted Surinam Cherry Grumichama Cherry Rio Grand Cherry Barbados Cherry Dwarf Barbados Chestnut Malibar Cinnamon Coffee Dragon Fruit Eucalyptus Eugenia Confusa Fig Brown Turkey Fig Green Isha Fig Kadota Goji Berry Grapefruit Pink Grapefruit Yellow Grapes Bunch Grapes Muscadine Guave Chattey Guava Pineaple Guava Ruby Guava Strawberry Guava Jaboticaba Joy Perfume Michelia Champaca Jujube Katok Kiwi Tomuri m&f Lemon Harvey Lemon Sambukan Lemon Varigated Pink Lime Key Lime Kaffir Lime Persian Lime Red Longan Kahola Loquat Lychee Hakip Lychee Maritius Mango Mango Carrie MANGOSTEEN Michelia Alba Michela Champaca Miracle Fruit Mombin Red Monstera Deliciosa Moringa (Horseradish Tree) Mulberry Dwarf Mulberry Shangrila Natal Plum Nectarine Sun Raycer Neem Olive Fremtoya Orange Orange Dwarf Navel Orange Red Blood Orange Ortanique Orange Tarocco Blood Papaya Passionfruit Yellow Peach Red Cylon Peach Tropic Beauty Peanut Butter Fruit Pear Pear Pineapple Persimmon Ichibe Juro Persimmon Triumph Pineapple, Golden Pistachio Plantain Plum Gulf Rose Pomegranate Dwarf Pomegranate Vietnamese Rambutan Rose Apple Spanish Lime Strawberry Strawberry Tree Sugar Cane Tamarind Tangelo Tangerine Murcott Tangerine Satsuma Wax Jambu Thai Red Sunset White Sapote Yerba Mate HERBS Allheal Alow Arnica Montana Anise hyssop Bacopa Bacopa, Lemon Basils, Greek Columnar, Lemon, Lettuce Leaf, Lime, Sweet Bay Tree Bay Rum Bergamot (Monarda) Betel Betony Borage Calendula Camelia sinesis Caper bush Cardamom Catnip Chives, Garlic & Onion Cilantro Comfrey Coriander Culantro Curry Plant Daisy Dill, Boquet & Fernleaf Echinacea Fennel, Bronze & Sweet Feverfew Fuschia Galangal True Gardenia Garlic Society Geranium, Apple, Citronella, Lemon Sculpture, Rose Ginger Ginkgo Goji Berries Gotu kola Greek mountain tea Gynura Henna Hibiscus, Edible & False Roselle Honeysuckle Horseradish Jasmine Arabian Tea & Confederate Lambs Ear Lavender Lemon balm Lemon grass Lemon verbena LionÂs tail Marjoram Marshmallow Mint, Apple, Berries & Cream, Blackberry, Chocolate, Citrus kitchen, Corsican, Costa rican Kama Sutra, Cotton candy, English, Grapefruit, Hazelnut, Italian spice, JimÂs Fruit, Lavender. Lemon sweet, Margarita, MarilynÂs Salad, Mojito, Mountain, Orange Bergamot Oregano thyme, Pennyroyal, Spearmint, Sweet pear, Wintergreen, Yerba buena Monarda Moujean tea/Bahama Berry/Pineapple Verbena Mullein Murraya koeniggi Myrtle greek Nasturtium Oregano, Cuban, Italian, Mexican Pandanus Amaryllifolius Papalo Parsley, Curled & Flat Leaf Pepper, Black Pepper Vine, Chili, Habernero, Jalapeno, Ornamental, Red Pepper Vine, Tabasco Perilla Purslane Root beer plant Rose, Bon Silene Tea, Champneys pink cluster, Climbing don juan, Double red, Moanne lombard, Red cascade, Safrano, Treasure blend hybrid Rosemary, Romero, Spice island, Victorian Sage, Common, Diviners, Grape scented, Mexican, Pineapple Savory Spice bush, Lindera Benzoin Spilanthese Spinach, Malabar & Okinawa Star anise Stevia St johns wort Sugar cane Sushini Sweet almond verbena Tarragon Tea olive Thyme, English, Lemon Tilo Tomatoes Turmeric Violet sweet Yarrow Yerba mate Zaatar Zuta levana WATER PLANTS Bacopa, lemon Cattail Celer, water Chestnut, water Mint, water I'm working on a website with photos of our property in all stages of bloom and slowly working on a book for zone 9 edible gardening. We've had luck with almost everything we've tried. I'm happy to answer any questions about growing in tropical zones. Happy growing, Kelly

Some one said the highbush cranberry tasted bad, but sometimes the European (Viburnum opulus) gets confused with the American (Viburnum Trilobum) and the European is more medicinal. There is suppose to be a 3rd high bush cranberry type around Canada or Alaska that tastes best of all. But, besides those viburnum there's other edible varieties like the black haw (Viburnum Prunifolium), nannyberry (Viburnum lentago), wild raisin (several edible viburnum share that name), hobble bush Viburnum is said to have " consistency of stewed prunes with a bit of clove like spicy fragrance". The native northern fly honeysuckle (lonicera villosa) is edible, and I read a source saying it was used in the breeding program to make honey berries. I have not read to much information on that, but it's likely. I saw its seeds being sold on Etsy. It doesn't make many berries and they are small, but the hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) is said to have berries with a thin sugary pulp, and the seeds crushed with water are edible and is said to taste of almond milk. Looking at ground covers, besides partridgeberry, wintergreen, cranberry, lingonberry, or snowberry, there's the ground cherries you could try. It's leaves and unripe fruit is poisonous, but they are sweet tasting berries when ripe.

I sowed seed last March after keeping the seeds in wet paper towels in the refrigerator for a month and had about a 50% germination rate once the outside temps. started to get really warm. I initially kept the tiny seedlings in tiny cell trays so they would not stay wet and with a lot of outside air movement trying to duplicate the conditions I have read about in the Mediteranian region. It is now 3 months later and I have transplanted the seedlings into gallon containers in a very well drained media. I feed sparsely and they sit in full sun. We have had unusually hot weather this Spring and it's been in the mid 90's F for a month and near 100F for the last 5 days here on the Texas Gulf coast and the plants are thriving and about the size of a baseball. Hot, full sun slightly dry and very little feed seems to be the trick. Next season when they are larger I'll try cuttings from these plants. I have been in the commercial nursery business for 35 years so I have the facilities to grow just about anything though I admit I've pretty well abused these plants compared to my regular crops.....Michael-Pecan Hill Nursery Here is a link that might be useful: Pecan Hill Nursery-Brookshire, Texas