half-dead artichoke flower

I think this is a half-dead artichoke flower. But it could be a half-dead cardoon flower. I'm growing them both in the garden this year, their labels have disappeared, and they look almost identical. Beautiful foliage (see second photo), but I planted them way too close together and, with all the rain we've had, some of them have rotted out from the bottom. I harvested one almost-dead blossom last week and, even though I didn't even put it in water, it kept growing this little top knot of lavender blue fuzz. Reminds me of that line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "I'm not quite dead yet!"