Sunburnt Plants

Have you ever heard of sunburning your plants? I hadn't but it sounds reasonable. Now I've experienced it.

Shortly after moving to NM, my Jenn sent me some bulbs as a welcome/late birthday present. Because I'd given out the wrong phone number the UPS couldn't reach us when they couldn't find the house. Would you believe more than half the streets in town do NOT have street signs! So without directions (and even with them) people struggle to find the right place. So it was two weeks before my bulbs were delivered. When I opened the box the plants were really sprouting up but were totally white. I set them on a south facing porch but not directly in the sun where they were slowly adding some green color, then two days later I figured they could use an hour of sun so pulled them out of the shadows. Would you believe I forgot them and four hours later came out to discover they were pink. Poor things were burning - with direct sun plus the reflection off the wall and sidewalk it was too much.

Thankfully it didn't hurt them long term, the plants continued to green up and the blooms grew and it wasn't long before they put on a pretty show, after which I planted the bulbs into the ground. Here they are just starting the show.