CORNUS MAS AUREA VARIEGATA FULL

To maintain an all over variegated tree or shrub, it becomes necessary to cut out those new growths that are all or nearly all green, and this practice is apt to leave us with a misshapen plant. I don’t know why this is so, but it is invariably true. Another fact to bear in mind about variegated plants is that those with a central blotch of some color other than green on their leaves are far more apt to revert than those with colored margins.

CORNUS MAS AUREA VARIEGATA FULL

Thus, a new variegated sweet gum is said to be smaller than the non-variegated, but there is a strong possibility that it will in time reach something approaching full height for the species.

Slow growing, of course, is not the same as dwarf. One is that, since they are at least to some degree lacking in chlorophyll, they are slower growing than their all-green equivalents and more time should be allowed for them to fill their allotted spaces in the garden. If we plan to use them, there are some things we should keep in mind about variegated plants in general. These are the places where colored and variegated foliage is most apt to be used and enjoyed in a way that can dazzle. Their gardens are perhaps less to be likened to paintings, as Gertrude Jekyll would have it, than to novels that unravel as we travel through, with plots and sub-plots, dramatic confrontations and lots of unexpected and exciting characters - well blended we hope, but at least with distinctive ingredients, blended or not. For my part, I think broad ranging plant collectors are condemned to baroque effects. I realize that all this is a little elaborate for some tastes, but I think we must surely long ago have lost those readers who prefer quiet greenery and simple formats for their gardens. In still other cases - and perhaps these are the best of all - varicolored leaves complement and provide a handsome setting for flowers or fruits perhaps the most exquisite example is the variegated Ampelopsis brevipedunculata, which has masses of white, pink and green leaves among which, in fall, the turquoise and pink berries appear like jewels. Another class of shrubs with variegated leaves is grown primarily for its garden effect in the same way as plants with overall colored foliage. The variegated star jasmine, for example, I find most beautiful when it is not flowering, even though it flowers as abundantly as the plain green one. Some prize variegated plants are grown almost solely for the intricate design and color of their leaves, which can be intriguing almost in the manner of flowers. To persist in thinking of them as sick is somehow analogous to dismissing the more sensitive forms of human communication as neurotic in both cases there is a graceful departure from a more robust norm. They include such plants as Actinidia kolomikta and Acanthopanax sieboldianus ‘Variegatus’ and Cornus alba ‘Elegantissima’ - surely these are wonderful and appealingly delicate garden subjects. Consider, for example, those somewhat anemic beauties with leaves that are partly green and partly cream or white, often with a pink tinge. When I think of the great many kinds of variegated foliage and the many effects they can have on those who appreciate them, I feel sorry for my gardening friends who determinedly shut out this entire range of plants from their gardens. These omissions in no way detract from the value of his survey of the variegated plants of greatest value in western landscapes. The author’s departure on a protracted horticultural tour in Europe left the manuscript without reference to variegated privet and myrtle. Actinidia kolomikta, a standard of reference among variegated plants.

Cornus mas aurea variegata