Hello, I have the beautiful Orlaya flower in my garden. It self sowed from last year. Gorgeous. I have read in other zones it blooms until frost. My flowers are already going to seed. Does it get second blooms if I trim the plant? Do we have a shorter bloom time?
Thank you for your help!
Orlaya is a very beautiful flower. It is a hardy annual not native to this part of the world so you are lucky that your’s self seeded and came back after the winter. You can prolong the blooming period for many annuals, including Orlaya, by deadheading the spent flowers to prevent them going to seed. Doing this should result in the plants directing their energy to producing new blooms, rather than seeds. As our growing season is shorter; Orlaya may have a shorter blooming period in Toronto than other places where it is grown simply because the days and nights get colder sooner here. Note that if you want your Orlaya to self seed for next year’s garden, you should let some of the flowers go to seed in advance of the first likely frost. It generally takes 3-4 weeks from flowering until the seed is set.