Avoid burning your plants on beach day

Now that the plant has recovered and my shame is gone, I can talk about this. The time—two
years ago now, my painful recollection, I think (I honestly suppressed this)—that I put my
dracaena out for a little fresh air and burned the poor baby. There, I’ve said it. It’s out. I’m a
plant burner.
Today the plant, pictured here, doesn’t look all that bad. Look closely and you’ll see a few
missing leaves where it would be better if it was filled in, but overall it doesn’t look all that bad.
I don’t have a before and after photo—it was just too painful to take, and I didn’t want to
embarrass the little guy anymore than he’d already been shamed.
So, yes, plants that have been sunburned can recover—but it takes a long time. And if you fancy
yourself a terrific indoor gardener (moi, you say?), it takes some pride swallowing. You see, my
plant looked terrible. Big burn marks in the leaves. Some so bad I had to do some surgical
pruning. I held my head high, however, and let my plant proudly display its burns when I kept it
in its location to heal. It’s in my bathroom, so yes, people saw it. People who thought I had a
greener thumb and quite frankly more common sense. You see, I think that plants have
feelings. If I’d cloistered the plant away where no one could see his burns, I truly believe that he
would have shriveled up and died of embarrassment. So my plant and I came face to face with
each other several times a day over the course of many months. Did I say many? It seemed to
take forever, but gradually he did recover by growing new leaves. It’s a slow, arduous, painful
process for you both, so my advice is this. Don’t burn your plants! Remember that plants grown
indoors are like your really white cousin who lives in his parent’s basement and only comes out
when he’s dragged out for family holidays. They will burn in mere minutes! I kid you not. The
plant I left out was probably out for about 45 minutes when I realized my mistake, so by that
time the burn was severe. The burn doesn’t show up at first, so you may breathe a sigh of relief.
Until the next day when you’re sure to be gasping. So if you put your plants out for a little fresh
air, make sure it is under the protective canopy of a shade tree or a patio cover—and watch the
sun’s ever shifting rays. What happened with me is that I had meant to put it out for just a few
minutes, because I knew the sun would be shifting in my courtyard. When I put it out it was
under the shad eof a tree, but by the time I remembers it the sun had shifted and the plant was
in full afternoon hot sun. Ouch!
And if you have burned plants, I advise you to let it go. Say out loud, I am a plant burner, but I
am fully reformed. Make sure your plants can hear you. No recidivism