My Variegated Plants
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When reading the title of this blog one shouldn’t be scared! We will survive when taking care of our variegated plant…even if it’s a little extra dramatic!
A plant that has bi-coloured or tri-coloured foliage is described as variegated plants because they lack the green pigment chlorophyll in their plant cells, which is usually the result of cell mutation. Essentially these plants have less surface area to photosynthesize with and produce the sugars they need for growth and repair, hence they usually need more light compared to entirely green plants and typically grow much, much slower. This is the basis of why they are currently so sought after and pricy! The stronger the variegation in a plant, the slower it grows.
Oh, but hey, they look gorgeous, natures painted beauties! We obviously have got you covered with these unique rare plants, that don’t only grow on Instagram!
Different types of Variegated plants
- Reflective Variegation – This is a plant with shiny or shimmery variegated parts. The unique coloring creates pockets that appear shiny when light reflects on them.
- Pattern – Gene Variegation – These types of variegated plants get the colour from their genes, it occurred naturally.
- Viral Variegation – Some variegated leaves are cause by viruses such as the mosaic virus.
How to care
Already own a variegated plant? Here are a few tips to make this charming greenery pop, lol!
- Variegated plants require bright indirect light for their multi-coloured leaves to thrive.
- Variegated plants tend to be on the more delicate side than their non-variegated, they are sensitive, as they photosynthesize less due to the lack of chlorophyll on the white areas on their leaves.
- Some variegated plant may start to lose the white areas on the leaves, slowly turning all green. This is known as “reverting”. To stop this from happening, prune stems whose leaves are turning green as soon as they appear.
