I was talking with someone the other day and the topic of artichokes came up. I started waxing poetic about how awesomely wonderful artichokes are to eat, and not only that, they are great in flower arrangements! My friend looked at me and said, what a peculiar idea! She had never thought about what an artichoke really is. Most people think that it's a vegetable, but nope! It's a flower. A pretty great, perfectly beautiful flower, that is part of the thistle family. ...and! the bees can't get enough of them.
It just so happened that at the moment, Mom had an artichoke growing in the garden. Most of the flowers had gone way past eat-ability into full-fledged flower mode. So, I thought I'd share a couple photos. Hope your summer is going great!