Somehow, I was fortunate for a Fernleaf Phacelia (Phacelia binnatifida) to find its way into my Maryland yard 2 seasons ago. Last year, it bloomed its head off and went to seed and then died. I now have literally hundreds of 1st year plants coming up in the area, which is great.

My understanding is that the plant will grow this year, but not bloom. Next year, however it will bloom like crazy and go to seed.

Since I never seem to time it correctly to gather the seed, I was wondering if I could interrupt the bloom/seed/die cycle by not letting a few of them not bloom next year. Would the plant still die off, or would it come back the following year and bloom?

My goal is to be able to have them cycle the bloom phase every year, with group 1 blooming next year and group 2 the following year.

I haven't been big on biennials, but I really like this one.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

From what I have read if you do not let them flower they stand a good chance of coming back for a third year. But doing that might be harder then collecting seeds.