Artichokes and Figs

OK- I am admitting my own ignorance! I love artichokes and figs, but the only artichokes I ever seen or eaten came in a glass jar from the grocery store shelf, and the figs I've enjoyed my whole life come in a nifty foil package (also from the store)! I always imagined both of them growing in some far away exotic land... like Israel, Spain, Greece... and never imagined they could grown in my own backyard. Phillip planted several artichoke plants in the garden...

The plant has a purple flower and I never would have recognized this (remember-- I only know artichokes in a jar!)as an artichoke if he hadn't pointed it out to me.

Then the figs... did you know they grow on trees? I thought they grew on a bush... (yes, I know it's a pathetic sad fact that I am sooo ignorant about these things!)... but now I am sooo much smarter, since I have not one, but several fig trees growing on my back deck. I really do love the shapes of the leaves... they are big and have these deep indentations-- very artistic! The biggest surprise is that fig trees can grow this far north, but then we've had an very hot and dry summer.

Now we just have to keep the squirrels away...