DAVID Warne has grown the most magnificent artichoke plant I have ever seen and has never eaten so much as a single petal.
His specimen in his Gunville garden stands taller than the 78 year old but because he doesn’t fancy eating even the delicious heart of the globes, there are no fewer than 32 stunning electric blue blooms.
Artichokes are good value — whether you like to eat them or admire the architectural form of the plants and the electric blue of the flowers.
The artichoke has a primordial appearance with its armoured look and a delicious savoury-sweet heart.
All call it a vegetable but it is actually the bud of a flowering plant from the thistle family, hence the appearance of the gorgeous blooms.
It is the immature pale yellow inner petals which can be eaten — that and the best part, the heart and the stem.
I was a late convert to the artichoke but I do urge David to give it a go next spring.
Artichokes are easy to grow from seed, the plants are virtually bulletproof and look beautiful filling in the corner of even a small garden or standing proud at the back of a large border.