Ivies with variegated leaves
 White Mesh
by Janet Martin
In summer the flowers on pelargonium ivies are few and far between. They seem to go into ‘rest’ mode waiting for the cooler weather, when they will flower again. Some of these plants have outstanding leaves and they are most evident through the cooler months. The variegations come in two varieties, one a virus which makes the leaf look meshed and the other a naturally occurring variation, usually produced as a sport from the parent plant.  L'elegant
The virus has been introduced to the plants and it is benign. It then shows the veins in the leaves as a white mesh. The best known ivy like this is White Mesh. It has a single pink flower and is very easy to grow.
I tend to refer to these as veined or meshed leaves, not variegated. That’s my personal preference. The truly variegated leaves have two or more colours evident at one time; an example would be L'Elegant. It's leaves are outlined in white. The edges have a tendancy to turn pink if it it is underwatered. The term is "growing it hard." A similar ivy is Sunset Marble, also known as Wood’s Surprise. The edges of this ivy are smaller than that of L’Elegant and the centre of the leaf has a marbled effect. These ivies have fine roots and require a semi shaded place to grow and should never be over watered.
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Duke of Edinburgh is one of the maple leafed ivies (my own term) [Botanically refered to a palmate]. To me the leaf looks more like a maple leaf than the usual pelargonium ivy. It has had many names in its time- Madame Margot, Sunset Variegatum and has been around since 1869. The other two maple leaved varieties that I have are Aureum Marginatum (UK 1910) or Marginata, which translated from the Latin meaning having a distinct margin. Lastly Sallen (1957) which is a sport from the Duke of Edinburgh. It has a green and gold leaf. My L’Elagant ivy produced a beautiful sport with a light centre and a darker outside. It has the added bonus of having pink stems which are very pretty. I have named it Quinn’s Elegant Surprise. The flowers are single white like the parent plant and it grows well. |
Duke of Edinburgh
Sallen
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While I am aware that there are many other ivies which are variegated, the ones I have mentioned are the easiest and most available to grow.
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