Annuals Dictionary: Cynara
Sunflower family
Compositae
Sin ‘a-ra. About a dozen coarse, thistle-like herbs, mostly from the Mediterranean region.
Description
Leaves large, more or less lobed, cut, or both, sometimes spiny. Flowers tubular, disk-shaped, no rays, in large, dense heads, one terminating most of the larger branches. Cluster of bracts in many series below and surrounding each head, spiny-tipped and purple in the Cardoon.
How to Grow
Plants need a long, cool growing season to develop to full size. Start seeds indoors in very early spring to get good-sized plants for setting out in garden. Transplant twice to successively larger pots. If hardened off, the young plants will withstand a few degrees of frost. They need rich soil and plenty of moisture.
Cynara cardunculus
Cardoon . To 6 ft. (1.8 m) high. Root and thickened leafstalks edible. Leaves large, very deeply cut, grayish green above, but white-felty beneath, densely spiny. Flowerheads purple, to 3 in. (7.5 cm) wide, with spiny-tipped bracts. S. Europe. Most dramatic from late summer through fall. Perennial except where winters are severe but usually treated as a half-hardy annual.