I’ve been on the look out for hardy artichoke varieties for a couple of years. I’m growing perennial crops here in and outside of Copenhagen, Denmark. We have relatively mild winters because of the sea, but they tend to be wet and combined with lots of moisture-retentive clay in the soil this is what seems to kill artichoke. I’m growing in several places here from zones 7b and 8b. Most people grow artichoke here as an annual, sometimes surviving a second year.
The local knowledge here is that you cannot get artichoke seed to mature well enough in our climate, so people buy southern varieties year after year. The first year I tried to let artichoke go to seed I had plentiful of more or less matured seed. Almost all of it germinated. That made me want to breed for my own hardy artichoke.
I’ve grown a handful of the varieties most common here (Green Globe, Gros Vert de Laon, Purple Italian Globe, Violet de Provence). A few have survived a year or two. I’ve grown cardoon too and did not find it particularly more hardy as people often say.
Then I heard about an old Danish variety that was supposed to be more hardy, but difficult to get hold of, called Serridslevgaard. It seems to have been propagated only via off-sets and was the result of many attempts to breed a hardy artichoke cultivar in the manors of the landed gentry probably a hundred years ago or more. In suitable soil, the same plant can survive up to 7 years or more here. Since it has not been propagated by seed, I believe it does not have much inbreeding depression. People that have tried to grow seed plants from it report that there is variety in it, so it is likely already a landrace variety.
This spring, I was finally able to get hold of a couple of clones and a handful of seed heads to process from a local seed saver. I will use this as a starting point and then add hardy or semi-hardy genetics as we go on. My first goal is to have a reliably perennial landrace.
Let me know if you have clues about other good seed sources.
I love artichokes and am also starting to save seed from them here in Northern California, USA. There is a newish variety here called Tavor which is bred to produce well in the first season. It has performed well for me. In my climate, all artichokes overwinter, so I can’t really speak to that, though I do find the purple varieties seem to bounce back and produce earlier in spring.
I wish it was easier for us to share seeds across the ocean. Look forward to hearing more about your project.
oh man, it’d be awesome to somehow be able to get some of those seeds here in the US. I’ve saved seeds from a globe artichoke that lived to the 2nd year, but it’d be awesome to have one that lives past that (mine died the 3rd year).
I’m in a temperate climate, so different goals, but doing a large planting of artichokes this year. Will probably be a year before I have much of a seed crop, but I’m happy to share extras of the seeds I procured if anyone is interested.
I’m particularly covetous of the “tulip” shaped varieties and can’t find seed anywhere in the US. I’ve never tasted them, but I think they are so beautiful. There’s a mature plant in the landscaping at a local business, I’m hoping to get some seeds from them. The owner said the variety was “Trevor” (I confirmed she didn’t mean tavor) but I can’t find it listed anywhere.
I grow artichoke Serridslevgård since many years ago. In my new garden it grows much more prolific, than in the old garden. That is, until the voles dig their ways to it. But it still survive. The old garden had clay soil. The new garden has sandy soil, with a fairly high ground water table.
I don’t winterprotect, unless it is unusually freezy for many days.