Globe artichoke

Value to bees

Nectar

Very high

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Minor honey crop — a surplus only locally or occasionally

Which bees, and why

An open artichoke head holds hundreds of individual florets and is frequently occupied by half a dozen bumblebees at once. Leaving two or three heads to flower is among the highest-return decisions a vegetable gardener can make.

A vast head of individually shallow florets forming a landing platform — accessible to short and long-tongued bees alike.

Worth knowing

An outstanding nectar and pollen source, and one of the single most productive flowers in a garden.

Flowering

In flower

July to September (northern hemisphere)

A late summer flow, and only on heads left unharvested.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun on rich free-draining soil. It needs space, feeding and shelter from cold wet winters.

Size

1.5-2 m tall.

Native range

The Mediterranean, in dry grassland and scrub. Cultivated since antiquity.

Suits

Large gardens, Small gardens, Meadow or wildflower area

• Leave two or three heads unharvested each year to flower — the plant produces plenty and the bees gain enormously.
• Needs rich soil and a good deal of room; it is not a small-plot vegetable.
• Mulch the crown over winter in cold areas; it dislikes wet cold ground more than frost.

What it looks like

A very large architectural perennial with huge silver-grey deeply cut leaves and enormous violet thistle flower heads on thick stems.