I imagine some of you may be wondering why I chose the globe artichoke as the symbol for our Spring Garden Fair? Well….15 & 16 October ought to be prime globe artichoke time here, though one can never quite tell. As for purple ones – since having some success about five years ago, I’ve failed with each successive attempt. I don’t know why they should be more temperamental than the green ones, but so far, they have been.
So when I asked Clemmie to illustrate one, it was a bit of a gamble. Her stylised representation in gouache has served my purpose well and features on the web page as well as our flyers (now dotted about Sydney and slightly further afield….as time…or lack of more like….has allowed!).
Back in the autumn I planted (yet again) two supposedly purple fruiting artichoke seedlings. And then, just a couple of weeks ago as I was watering one morning, look what I spied….one plump, emerging fruit of exquisite beauty, deep in the heart of it’s crinkly leaf surrounds.
Now both plants have sent up a sturdy, handsome central stem, accompanied by smaller side-shoots, and I don’t know whether to leap for joy or to despair as I fear they will be ‘flowers’ before our Spring Garden Fair! Not that I really mind….just as long as they don’t keel over in the appalling winds we’re experiencing. I’ll definitely forego eating them this year though….I have a feeling they’re best left to go through their entire cycle in the first year and suspect that’s how I lost them first time around, so I’ll just watch on longingly…patiently, in the hope of eating one next year!
Aren’t they fabulous? I hope you’ll come and see their progress at the fair!