Artichokes?

When I took a gardening class this past spring, I was surprised to learn that artichokes can be grown in Northeast Ohio.  I love artichokes, but thought they were only for milder climates like California or Italy.  Plus, I'd never seen seeds or seedlings for artichokes in any of the garden stores around here so it just never occurred to me to plant them.

However, on the recommendation of the class instructor (a local professional farmer/gardener), I found artichoke seeds online at Johnny's Selected Seeds.  For less than $5, it seemed a worthwhile experiment; plus, if the seeds didn't actually bear fruit, they supposedly produce pretty plants, so why not try?  I ordered a packet of seeds and sowed them directly in the ground in early May.

Here they are on May 21st.  At this point I still wasn't sure if they were artichokes or weeds, so I let them grow (as well as several others that did turn out to be weeds).

Then, above, a few of them on June 30.  These artichoke plants don't resemble artichokes just yet, but they have been absolutely thriving in the hot and humid weather we were having earlier last week.  The one in the top picture seemed to grow a few inches in less than a week!  Something does seem to be chewing on them a little, but I removed the really damaged leaves.  Now to just sit back and watch these grow, see if they become anything that looks like an artichoke!