Suzanne D. wrote:
"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.


It gets very hot here too. The artichokes go backwards in summer because of
it but come back quickly in the cooler months and bud in the spring.

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.

I have never done this and mine are fine. I am unsure of the rationale.

David