Well this was an unexpected end to one of my 3 artichokes. I had one in a pot, and 2 in the ground. A rabbit ate one of the ones in the ground down to just a stub in one evening. Grrr.......I'm removing the other one that is the ground and transplanting it to a pot before the rabbit decides to make dinner of that one, as well, It just kills me to lose one of these as long as they take to grow