Yes, I have grown one. This year will be the first year that I get a harvest from it. There was another person that posted in the Texas gardening forum a while back about growing artichokes in Dallas which might be helpful. I planted a green globe artichoke from a purchased seedling last year. In the middle of summer it did have a hard time with the heat, but recovered each evening. I have had some aphid problems and caterpillars, which I sprayed with a bit of neem or manually evicted. It's been a trooper, my son pulled the whole plant up about one month after I planted it. Eventually it bounced back from the dead and grew about 4' diameter of foliage before dying back from winter frosts. I don't give it any special treatment really. It is well mulched (3-4") like everything in my garden. I amended the soil with compost (3") beneath the mulch that I turned into the soil a little with a garden claw. Then put a little bit of soybean meal on top for fertilizer. I am anxious about what I will see this year from it. Should be a beautiful (and delicious) plant. Hope this helps.

Thanks both. I've grown JA in central SC but they were just tubers I picked up in a grocery store I believe (it was long ago). I remember the annual resprouting! I'm glad to hear the ones from JSS (obviously far northern) still do OK in the south. I'd love to grow less-knobby ones. I have (somewhere buried away) an old recipe a church used for artichoke pickles for fund raising and I still remember them as wonderful tasting and want to make some. I am going to experiment with a few named selections from northern suppliers, half in good soil in 25-gallon pots and half in my lousy sand of the garden plot.

Hello All, I have ordered ground nut tubers to plant in my garden, which is beside a creek. I am hoping that they do well, but I have one problem, MOLES! I have tilled up the spot where I am going to plant the tubers and they love to forage through newly turned ground searching for grubs and other insects. At least that is what I've heard. I found a tunnel leading to and from my sage plant which is also a perrenial, but haven't seen any damage to my sage (yet). I also heard that moles do not eat plants but can destroy their root system by the burrowing that is done in search of food. Does anyone have any suggestions or advice on this? Will the moles eat my tubers? Thanks, Joe

Bogturtle's right about Jefferson having grown them at Monticello. I picked up a packet of seed there last autumn. From the back of the package: "Globe Artichoke [cynara scolymus] - Included in one of Jefferson's first lists of vegetables grown at Monticello in 1770. ... Globe Artichokes are not reliably hardy in Virginia, as Jefferson acknowledged ... 'we can have neither figs nor artichokes without protection from the winter.'... Sow seeds in pots indoors during late winter and transplant seedlings to the garden. Globe Artichokes need rich, well-prepared soil, plenty of sun, and even moisture. The edible chokes develop by mid-summer and several can be harvested during the season. If left on the plant, they will develop into a purple, thistle-like flower. Zones USDA Zones 8 through 10." That last sentence is interesting, since I believe Monticello is in USDA Zone 7. Unfortunately, however, all I know is what I've read, since the seedlings started in the greenhouse and carefully transplanted to their rich, well-prepared soil in a sunny raised bed with soaker hose for even moisture were promptly reduced to stubs by a formerly resident groundhog. Some things came back (the chards), but not the chokes. There's always next year. It sounds like you're having fun with your gardening; that's the best way. You're right about learning a lot, and gardens seem to be quite forgiving, actually. At least, they don't hold a grudge. Did you get your greenhouse yet? This will be my third winter with one and I don't believe I'd ever want to be without one again! Wishing you a great season in your greenhouse this winter (another learning curve), and an enjoyable and rewarding "gardening extravaganza" in 2008. Diane in Monmouth County, NJ