"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
news:20090706-104508.328.0@Pat-
Do your plants get enough winter chilling?

I think so. We are slightly colder in winter than most of California.

(They aren't particularly happy about very
hot temperatures, either.)

Well, we DO have very hot temperatures, which is why I gave them partial
shade instead of full sun. I got a tiny artichoke off of a first-year plant
a few years back.

Standard varieties like 'green Globe' need as
much as 1300 hours of sub- 50 deg F temperatures (55 days), although
there are some cultivars that require less. ('Imperial Star' needs only
around 200 hours.)

I have Imperial Star, and I am pretty sure we get those temperatures at the
sufficient amounts.

I learned online that I was supposed to cut the leaves back to an inch above
ground in fall, and I didn't do this. Could this lack of pruning be the
problem?
--S.