Some information common to shrubs with variegated foliage...
Why is my variegated shrub losing its colors?
If it is a variety marked with cream or white, there is a good chance that it is too exposed to the sun. Chlorophyll, which is a light-sensitive pigment, begins to dominate again. Transplant the shrub to the shade and you will see the variegation appear again. If it is a golden variegation, it is the opposite, because the yellow pigment needs a strong luminosity to acquire all its intensity. In the shade, the color becomes more of a lime.
Did you know?
- Evergreen foliage does not fall in winter (in this case, it is called deciduous). However, evergreen leaves are not eternal. It lives from 3 to 8 years depending on the species, the plant constantly renewing part of its foliage. Contrary to a deciduous, the evergreen does not undergo a total stop of vegetation during the bad season. It continues to live in slow motion, which requires it to be supplied with water all year round, a very common "oversight" yet sometimes fatal to shrubs grown in pots.
- Evergreen plants are generally cooler than deciduous ones (conifers are an exception). Most evergreen shrubs are found in tropical climates. The colder the geographic area, the fewer the native evergreens.
- The usually green color of the leaf is due to the predominance of chlorophyll, a blue-green pigment. But if other pigments such as carotenoids (yellow-orange, red-brown) and anthocyanins (pink, purple, red) are more concentrated than normal, the leaf becomes colored.
- Most variegation results from the partial disappearance of chlorophyll in the leaf blade. It is often the result of a mutation, which implies the obligation to multiply it by vegetative way (cutting, layering, grafting).
- The very discolored cultivars pose problems of propagation. Indeed, in some of them, the plant does not have a sufficient quantity of chlorophyll for a fragment of cutted branch to live in autonomy the time to take root. It is therefore necessary to multiply these plants by grafting, which results in a higher selling price.
- The botanical terminology distinguishes the different types of variegations. Margined ('Marginata') is bordered by a thin band of color. Maculated ('Maculata') has a large spot of color, usually central. Striated or marbled ('Striata') presents more or less fine and regular colored lines. Punctate ('Punctata') is scattered with small colored spots. Reticulated ('Reticulata') is decorated with a colored net, often following the pattern of the veins.
- The nomenclature not accepting any more Latin terminology for all the cultivars obtained after 1956, many are adorned with names with Anglo-Saxon consonance, because the breeders of plants seek an international career for their creations. The 'Gold', 'Silver', 'Cream', 'Rainbow', 'Harlequin', 'Chamaeleon', thus bloom on many plants.
- It is necessary to be wary of the panachures which can hide certain deficiencies or a bad adaptation of the plant to its conditions of culture. Some mottling is also due to viruses (but it is most often floral mottling, as is the case for tulips).
- Gardeners often like to invent words, so they call "suffused" leaves whose discoloration is finely and irregularly degraded by the presence of small green spots more or less dense. This type of leaves could also be called "sandy" as in Aucuba japonica 'Crotonifolia' for example. This characteristic is more common in perennial plants. It is also sometimes found in some flowers (iris and roses in particular).
