After that time, it is best to dig and divide it, as it produces off shoot plants that may crowd the original plant. In the fall, cut back your artichoke plant and mulch it with a covering of leaves or straw. After mild winters, new plants will sprout from the old parent plant in the spring. Uncover them in April. Cold winters, such as this past winter in western Oregon, may kill artichokes, whether or not they are mulched.
Cardoons are a close relative of the artichoke, grown for their thick fleshy leaf bases.