Yesterday, in a sidewalk garden, I noticed a striking plant. It had big purple flowers, perhaps 8 to 10cm across, consisting of many long filaments. The flowers reminded me of Canada thistle.<\/p>\n
The flowers sat inside bunches of thick, succulent leaves on high stalks, perhaps around 60-100cm tall. The lower leaves, not associated with flowers, were palmate, with long, thin lobes off which more branched.<\/p>\n
That’s how I remember the plant, but I only beheld it for about 30 seconds. At home I searched it, from memory, on the internet. I have no doubt it’s an artichoke, perhaps Cynara scolymus<\/em>.<\/p>\n I didn’t take a picture, but some of the sources below have some.<\/p>\n Source:<\/p>\n lavenderhedge.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n pfaf.org<\/a><\/p>\n www.avogel.com<\/a><\/p>\n planthardiness.ars.usda.gov<\/a><\/p>\nJack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane,<\/a> Campbell River, BC.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Self-tutoring about botany: the tutor identifies a plant he saw. Yesterday, in a sidewalk garden, I noticed a striking plant. It had big purple flowers, perhaps 8 to 10cm across, consisting of many long filaments. The flowers reminded me of …<\/p>\n