I am on the cardoon (also spelled cardone) watch! These plants get get up to eight feet tall, are members of the thistle family, the same family as artichokes 🌱 The blooms are a beautiful iridescent purple and the pollinators love them! Similar to artichokes, the heart we eat is the flower that blooms. When the cardoons are done blooming, I chop them back to the ground and the greenery sprouts agin. I harvest the leafy stalks in the fall to use them for cooking. The stalks are softened, chopped, and mixed with a bread crumb mixture to fry 😋 Cardoon stalks taste and smell like artichokes, delicious and beautiful!