It's an Artichokes life (or it was before the gophers ate it)

 This is actually 6 artichoke plants transplanted from a container into the ground. We thought we would beat the gophers by burying the plants in chain link. This worked for the first year. Recently, 2 of the plants began to grow again and almost started to flourish before attacked from beneath. But they were good while they lasted and such a beautiful plant. I also learned that pincher bugs are a fan of these. They also seemed to like a lot of water.