Variegation in Plants

Now that summer is over, I want to share some pictures of some of the variegated plants I found this year. It's been a slow, but exciting discovery process, realizing the potential of what exists out there. At first, I thought finding a variegated plant in the wild was as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. I wasn't sure what plants were even capable of variegation. Casually observing the plant world the last few years, I was lucky to find one or two examples a year. This year, my eyes were opened and the lid blew off the top as I'm starting to believe that if it's green, there's a good chance it variegates somewhere. Usually I can find at least one example of variegation on a hike if I'm looking hard enough. Now the journey begins to find as many examples of variegation in as many different types of plants and trees that I can find. Unfortunately, the prime time window of discovery is probably about three months long, when the forest is mostly green. Once the plant world starts changing colors, finding variegation becomes much harder.

As you can see in the photos, variegation expresses itself in different ways, some more beautiful than others. The split white/green leaf is one of my favorite. Here's looking forward to next spring when the hunt continues...

Tree Scientist Inspires Next Generation Through Barbie

Here is a neat little video on climbing an old Maple tree in Washington State on NPR this morning...

Tree Scientist Inspires Next Generation Through Barbie