Orlaya · Yaroslavl, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia
When to sow orlayas in Yaroslavl
Main outdoor window
19 Apr - 17 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
8 May
In Yaroslavl, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
18 Jul - 17 Aug
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Yaroslavl
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
13 Mar - 10 Apr
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
19 Apr - 17 May
Held back until the soil is warm enough for this crop. The frost date on its own would say 10 Apr, which is too cold for it to start.
Plant out
24 Apr - 22 May
Two weeks before your last frost.
In flower
18 Jul - 17 Aug
Orlayas through the year
Against the frost risk in Yaroslavl
Why these dates
Sow direct four weeks before the last frost into cool soil, or start indoors eight weeks before it. Germination is slow and uneven at the best of times and much better after a fortnight of cold, so autumn sowing suits it. Self-seeds where the drainage is good enough.
Hardy to about -12C. Autumn sowing is the traditional method around the Mediterranean and works anywhere in zone 8 and milder. Humid summer heat brings it to an early end.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Orlayas are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Yaroslavl.
With one correction, which is the note at the top of the page: the offset alone would put this crop in soil that is still too cold for it. Where the frost date and the soil temperature disagree, the dates here follow the soil, because a seed in cold ground either rots or waits, and a sowing made a fortnight later usually overtakes it.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Yaroslavl is zone 4a, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
The median frost-free season here is 151 days, against 90 to 120 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Yaroslavl
Other flowers to time
Growing orlayas in Yaroslavl
When should I plant orlayas in Yaroslavl?
Aim for 19 Apr - 17 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 24 Apr - 22 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
Can I plant orlayas earlier in Yaroslavl?
Frost is finished by about 10 Apr, but the soil is still too cold. Orlayas will not start until it reaches 5°C (41°F), and here that is around 19 Apr. Going in earlier usually means seed that rots or transplants that sit and sulk, and a later sowing catches them up.
When will orlayas be ready to harvest in Yaroslavl?
Expect to start picking around 18 Jul - 17 Aug, based on 90 to 120 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will orlayas tolerate?
Hardy to about -12C. Autumn sowing is the traditional method around the Mediterranean and works anywhere in zone 8 and milder. Humid summer heat brings it to an early end.