25 Easy Terrarium Plants for Open or Closed Glass - The Spruce
Artillery ferns are easy to grow, and they will best thrive with minimal care in a closed terrarium, as this plant loves moisture and humidity.
variegated heart-shaped leaves
Creeping fig ( Ficus primula), with its small, <anchor>variegated heart-shaped leaves</anchor>, makes a lovely addition to almost any terrarium. It is a perennial climbing vine, so you can train it to creep up structures, which could be interesting to try in a large terrarium. The creeping fig prefers a warm, moist environment and will grow well in a closed terrarium. You can easily propagate creeping figs by rooting branch cuttings in water. Keep in mind that creeping fig can be toxic to pets.
24 Pictures of Plants With Variegated Leaves
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# 24 Pictures of Plants With Variegated Leaves

By

David Beaulieu is a landscaping expert and plant photographer, with 20 years of experience.

Updated on 09/12/22

Reviewed by

Mary has been a Master Gardener for 30+ years and a commercial and residential gardener for 50+ years. She is a former Clemson University Extension Agent.

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Variegated columbine leaves.:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/variegated-columbine-big-5a822395a18d9e0036e038e8.jpg)

The Spruce / David Beaulieu

Variegated leaves may have leaves spotted with two colors or one color on the inner part of the foliage and a second color along the edge or "margin." Some plants go above and beyond the call of duty, featuring not two but three different colors on their leaves. These are some of the best examples of plants with bi-colored foliage that you can include a few in your landscaping to spice up your flower beds.

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## Variegated Dogwood Shrub

Closeup of variegated leaves of Elegantissima cultivar of redtwig dogwood.:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/variegated-redtwig-dogwood-big-5a80e60deb97de003749d8b8.jpg)

David Beaulieu

Variegated foliage gives a plant interest even in the absence of flowers. An example is this red twig dogwood bush with variegated foliage, Cornus alba 'Elegantissima'. This variegated shrub does bear flowers in spring sometimes succeeded by berries, but it's valued more for its bi-colored leaves to enjoy for three seasons.

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- 02 of 24

## Yellow Archangel

David Beaulieu

It's hard to choose the best attribute of yellow archangel, Lamium galebdolon. Is it the variegated foliage? Or is it the yellow flowers? Fortunately, we don't have to choose. It is not, however, tough to choose this perennial's worst feature: It is one of the worst invasive plants in North America.

It is related to the more common spotted deadnettle. Yellow archangel's shade tolerance makes it a good choice for use in woodland gardens.

A clump-forming plant, it reaches one to three feet in height, with a similar spread. The variegation on the plant takes the form of irregularly shaped silver splotches throughout the leaf with a jagged edge. The flowers form in bunches, growing in a ring around the stem.

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- 03 of 24

## Yellow Loosestrife

David Beaulieu

Yellow loosestrife, Lysimachia punctata 'Alexander', commonly called "Alexander's loosestrife." is another perennial valued as much for its foliage as for its flower spikes. In late spring and early summer, when the plant blooms with yellow flowers, the foliage is white and green, but when the plant first emerges in spring, its leaves are a more interesting pink and green.

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- 04 of 24

## Variegated Salvia

David Beaulieu

We don't usually think of red salvia, Salvia splendens as a variegated plant. A popular annual used as a bedding plant, red salvia is usually grown for its flowers, not its foliage. However, this gold-spotted variety, 'Dancing Flame', qualifies as a prime foliage plant, meaning its red flowers are just a bonus.

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- 05 of 24

## Nasturtium

David Beaulieu

These nasturtiums, Tropaeolum majus ' Jewel Hybrids', are another example of a variegated annual. We often think of nasturtiums as fall flowers—we sow their seeds in early June, and they bloom in early autumn. Their orange and yellow flowers fit in well with traditional fall color schemes.

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- 06 of 24

## Garden Phlox

Nakano Masahiro / Getty Images

Nora Leigh garden phlox, Phlox paniculata ' Nora Leigh' has two-toned leaves, as well as two-toned flowers. The leaves of this garden phlox have green centers with white edges, while the flowers have a deep pink center, surrounded by a light pink.

Don't confuse garden phlox with creeping phlox, which is a low-growing ground cover that blooms in spring. Garden phlox blooms in summer.

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- 07 of 24

## Two-Toned Dalmatian Iris

David Beaulieu

This iris not only bears the beautiful flowers one expects from an iris but lovely leaves, too.

Variegated Dalmatian iris, Iris pallida 'Variegata', has a purple flower and green and gold, sword-shaped leaves. Like many irises, it boasts fragrant blooms.

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- 08 of 24

## Variegated Columbine

David Beaulieu

Columbine plants are known for both their attractive foliage and pretty flowers, but variegated columbine, Aquilegia vulgaris 'Woodside Variegata' offers even more interesting foliage than most types. Columbine flowers can be yellow, white, red, blue, purple, pink, or bi-colored reaching up to two 2 feet in height. Columbine plants bloom in late spring to early summer and re-seed readily if you don't deadhead them.

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- 09 of 24

## Tricolor Sage

David Beaulieu

Living up to their name, tricolor sage plants, Salvia officinalis 'Tricolor' display three colors. Other variegated plants also boast three colors, such as ornamental kiwi vines and tricolor beech. Tricolor sage's third color—after green and white—is a rosy purple.

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- 10 of 24

## Tricolor Beech

David Beaulieu

We usually think of beech trees, Fagus spp., as fall foliage trees. We don't think that much about their leaves until autumn. Not so with the tricolor beech, Fagus sylvatica 'Tricolor' where the bold green in the leaf stands out from the pink and white coloration.

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- 11 of 24

## Sweet Tea Heucherella

David Beaulieu

Heucherella 'Sweet Tea' has a leaf with a dark center and a lighter color on the perimeter. Heucherella is derived, both linguistically and botanically, from a cross of ​ Heuchera and Tiarella. For most types of this perennial, the leaves are more interesting than the flowers. Some sport golden leaves, such as Heucherella 'Solar Power'. Sweet Tea is no exception in this regard.

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- 12 of 24

## Variegated Rose of Sharon

David Beaulieu

Hibiscus 'Sugar Tip' is a Rose of Sharon with variegated leaves and double, pink flowers. Rose of Sharon is such a late-blooming shrub, so you'll appreciate having the interesting leaves to enjoy all summer as you wait for the plant to bloom.

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- 13 of 24

## Frosty Morn Stonecrop

David Beaulieu

Frosty Morn stonecrop plant, Sedum bears bi-colored leaves. The name derives from the white or "frosty" edging displayed on its leaf margins. Like other succulents, such as hen and chicks, this perennial tolerates low-water conditions.

Although this succulent does blossom, it is valued most for its variegated leaves. As with Autumn Joy stonecrop, the flowers of this sedum appear in clusters atop the plant. The flowers tend to bleach out in the sun in very hot areas but can retain a pinkish color in cooler areas.

Other variegated stonecrops include:

- Phedimus spurius 'Tricolor'
- Sedum telephium 'Lajos' or 'Autumn Charm'
- Sedum alboroseum 'Mediovariegatum'

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- 14 of 24

## Ribbon Grass

David Beaulieu

Ribbon grass is striped ornamental grass with vertical stripes along the blade. Another variegated grass is zebra grass, with stripes that cut across the blade, horizontally.

While ribbon grass, Phalaris arundinacea, is an attractive plant, beware of its aggressiveness. As a substitute, grow the similar but better-behaved Carex  'Spark Plug', a type of sedge.

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- 15 of 24

## Minute Man Hosta

David Beaulieu

Minute Man hosta is one of several hosta plants that are variegated. Minute Man hosta plants' leaves are white around the edges and green at the center. These markings make Minute Man, like H. Patriot, H. Frances Williams, and H. Francee, examples of so-called "marginally variegated" hostas. All are best grown in partial to full shade.

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- 16 of 24

## Ornamental Kiwi Vines

David Beaulieu

Male kiwi vines bear small white flowers in spring and put on a better foliar display than the females. The attraction in growing Actinidia kolomikta 'Arctic Beauty' vines is their variegated foliage. As the leaves emerge in spring, they're green, but they soon pick up splotches of white. Even better, some leaves then develop pink tips. The coloration does, however, fade some as summer progresses.

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- 17 of 24

## Jack Frost Siberian Bugloss

David Beaulieu

- Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' is a perennial plant with variegated leaves. Commonly known as Siberian bugloss this variety has silver leaves with dark green veining. Blue flowers are a favorite in the landscape, and Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' produces a bunch of them in spring.

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- 18 of 24

## Harriet Waldman Japanese Maple

David Beaulieu

Acer palmatum 'Harriet Waldman' is one of the Japanese maples. Its leaves display three colors: pink, white, and green. It's the newest leaves that contain the most pink. Fall foliage will be yellow, orange, or red, depending upon conditions. Harriet Waldman Japanese maple eventually reaches a height of 15 feet tall.

Some other types of maple trees are also prized for their variegated leaves, such as  Acer pseudoplatanus 'Brilliantissimum' and Acer rubescens 'Silver Cardinal'.

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- 19 of 24

## Joseph's Coat Plant

Pat Canova / Getty Images

Joseph's coat plant, Alternanthera ficoidea, is a tropical plant grown for what is sometimes the intense second color that accompanies the green color in its leaves. For cultivars where the second color is intense, it will be orange, purple, or red. In other cultivars, it is less intense brownish or coppery. Since Joseph's coat can be grown year-round only in zones 10 and 11, it is treated as an annual in other zones where its color explosion can be used to punch up window boxes and the like during the summertime.

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- 20 of 24

## Snow-on-the-Mountain

David Beaulieu

Snow-on-the-mountain plant goes by several common names, including bishop's weed and goutweed. Take the "weed" in those common names seriously, because Aegopodium podagraria will spread, but the Variegatum cultivar is better-behaved than the species plant. Some people value snow-on-the-mountain as an option for a variegated flowering ground cover in zones 3 to 9.

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- 21 of 24

## Daphne Bush

David Beaulieu

The Carol Mackie cultivar of daphne bush, Daphne x burkwoodii  'Carol Mackie', bears sweet-smelling flowers in spring, along with variegated foliage. Of the two qualities, its variegated leaves may be the more important, since they can be appreciated for the greater part of the year.

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- 22 of 24

## Wolf Eyes Dogwood

David Beaulieu

Wolf Eyes dogwood, Cornus kousa ' Wolf Eyes', is one of the Japanese dogwoods. It has variegated foliage and white flowers. The effect of so much white is dazzling when this tree is in bloom. Berries follow the blooms for a fall display, but the fall foliage of Cornus florida or flowering dogwood is much better than that of Wolf Eyes.

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## Moonshadow Euonymus

David Beaulieu

There are various variegated euonymus shrubs. Moonshadow, Euonymus fortunei 'Moonshadow' has green and gold leaves, with the gold in the center and the green on the margins.

The green and gold color scheme isn't consistent. The gold is strongest on the newest leaves, while it tends to fade to a creamy color on the older ones. Still, the creamy color is attractive in its own right.

Moonshadow euonymus makes a good groundcover as it tends to stay short and spreads out horizontally. The outer branches bear a creamy yellow color, giving the overall plant a bright appearance.

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## Emerald 'n' Gold Euonymus

David Beaulieu

The leaves of Emerald 'n' Gold euonymus, Euonymus fortunei  'Emerald 'n' Gold', are green on the inside and gold on the outside. The leaves on some of Emerald 'n' Gold's new branches will revert to a plain green color over time, You should always prune off green areas so that the energy of the plant goes into making more variegated leaves.

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