Grow a Cardoon, a joy for months.

We’d all been missing the bees and butterflies, due to the cold and wet we’d had.

Then a little heat and they’re back! Bombing around, making up for lost time:

Here they are, on an Echinops sphaerocephalus, otherwise Globe Thistle, which I can’t resist putting up for you, for the sheer plethora of bee.

They are also celebrating warmer weather in the part of our garden which is full of Cardoons, (otherwise Cyanara cardunculus.) buzzing around on the cardoon flowers.  

This was once the Veg Plot and when we abandoned the veggies I needed to to think about how to remake this part of the garden at Veddw. I wanted it to look good for as long as possible with as little work as possible. And with something we could afford. Much thought.

Realisation: I could grow both cardoons – Florist Cardy, and Heuchera Palace Purple  from seed. So I did. Piles of them, though that still didn’t fill the whole space I wanted to fill. Still working on that. I’m hoping you are able to grow them in America,  – they are Mediterranean in origin, introduced to America in the 1800s and definitely not native to the USA. Nor, truly, do we find them edible.  But we do love the sight of them, for ten or twelve months in a year, depending on the weather. They are a truly wonderful perennial.

Thanks for the pics, Charles.

This photo was taken in 2018 and since then we have been devastated with box blight and, believe it or not, holly blight. So the box egg cups have gone.  And the standard hollies, which Charles grew from babies, have come, gone and now three of them are now having another go.

Holly on the right, having it’s first attempt.

But the cardoons and heuchera are still ploughing on. 

The cardoons start early in the year. 

This is in January.

and soon begin to look really beautiful:

This is such a winter joy.

Then, after some time, they begin to do a taller bit and the real drama begins: (this is June)

Followed by the bud:

I should really stop joking that they’d make a great anti burglar weapon, or someone might take me seriously. These things are very heavy and could do serious damage. But then they turn into bee magnets and blossom:

 

I’m sorry I could only manage one bee, but they’re a taller than I am and I’m not good at patience and reaching. 

And then, sadly, after seven or eight months, they begin to fall over. 

And the huge job of removing all that vast growth begins. Much barrowing. How do they do it in one year? 

But it wouldn’t be a huge task though if you just grew one. You must have a place for such a winner?