Variegated plants add so much interest to your landscape. They break up the flow of solid green, and draw the eye to their difference. Green is nice, but too much green in a garden can actually be boring. As someone who has grown variegated plants for decades, I can tell you that the special care they require is well worth it.
How do Plants Become Variegated?
Plants get their variegation due to many reasons. Some are hybridized to produce the variegations. Some plants send out a variegated limb or shoot for no reason at all. Sometimes even a virus or bacteria in the plant can cause a plant to variegate.
The variegation is caused when part of the plant is unable to produce enough chlorophyll to mask the other colors. Chlorophyll is the substance produced by a plant in response to sunlight that produces the green pigment. Just like fall leaves turn colors due to the chlorophyll production dropping as the sun gets weaker, so it is with variegated plants.
How to Choose a Variegated Plant
When choosing a variegated plant, you should check their sun requirements to make sure you have an appropriate planting spot. Some variegated plants are only variegated in full sun, some only in shade. I have one plant that is variegated in shade, but if you put it into sun, it turns back to solid green, due to the overproduction of chlorophyll. Some plants will lose some, but not all, variegation in either circumstance. My Caricature Plant (Graptophyllum pictum (L.)) loses it’s pink and red in full sun, turning to a chocolate brown with a stripe of cream down the center. This makes sense, in light of the fact that the green produced by the higher chlorophyll levels, added to the pink and red makes brown.
Fertilizing Your Variegated Plant
Variegated plants can’t be given a fertilizer with too much nitrogen. Any fertilizer with over a 10% nitrogen content will spur the growth of more chlorophyll, and many will lose their variegation. A 5-10-10 or 6-6-6 fertilizer is perfect for variegated plants.
Growth Rates of Variegated Plants
Variegated plants grow slower than plants with less chlorophyll content. This is important to realize, so that you won’t be tempted to shoot them full of 20-20-20 fertilizer to make them grow. As noted above, anything above 10% nitrogen can cause them to lose their variegation.
If you have a flowering plant with variegated leaves, look out for the numbers on your bloom fertilizer. If you can’t get a formulation for blooming with 10% or less nitrogen, it’s best to use a supplemental phosphate fertilizer. You can find fertilizers that have only a middle number, such as 0-25-0, which are usually marketed as rooting fertilizers, as phosphorous is also responsible for root growth in plants.
Removing Green Sports of Variegated Plants
Variegated plants usually start out as “sports” of a green plant, and can only be propagated vegetatively, by cuttings or air layering. A “sport” is a part of the original plant that displays characteristics that are significantly different than the mother plant. Sometimes, a branch or shoot will revert back to its green form. These should be removed immediately, or you risk your entire plant reverting back to it’s original green state, due to overproduction of chlorophyll.
Also, some variegated plants will sport a solid white/cream colored shoot or limb. These can’t be propagated, because there is no chlorophyll in them, which is essential to root production. The less green on a shoot of limb, the less likely it is that you will be able to root it.
Variegated plants are very much sought over by plant enthusiasts and collectors. Add a few variegated plants to your landscape today, and see what a difference it can make.
Sources:
Personal and Professional Knowledge and Experience
