I picked up my variegated foliage adenium last Dec. I talked Sid Gardino into selling it to me from his personal collection. I was in FL so it was fully leafed out but did go dormant shortly after I got it home to the cold. It hasn't broken dormancy yet but I can see swellings at the leaf nodes so I should see something soon. Once I see a full season of growth i'll be able to compare it to a standard green variety. The leaves are quite pretty but I like almost any variegated plant.

karyn1....

Thanks for the information about your plant. I have so many questions about Adenium, that my head swims when I think of these plants.

This forum is the only place to go for answers.

Frank

I think we'll all learn here. I'm glad that Gill got GW to make a dedicated adenium forum. You could find out some things on the plumeria and succulent forums but this is much better.

I also have one variegated graft on a DR. I had this plant about 3 years ago. 4 grafts, red, hot pink, beautiful pink and variegated. The others 3 already bloom, but the variegated graft still very small and no bloom, so I don't know that color will be. This still very small compare to 3 other grafts.
Marie

Marie my variegated plant isn't grafted so I think it's hardiness should be comparable to any other seed grown adenium. At least that's what I'm hoping : )

A few of my seedgrown from last Summer are variegated ,
they have had the same growth rate as the all-green ones.
So I have not seen any difference.

I have not thought about that at all untill now , in fact ...

I've just been scouring the pages of EbayUK for some more DR seeds and have spotted (no pun intended) some varietgated ones for sale and then I recalled seeing this thread about them. I think I may just try and get some of these as they look really lovely. The blurb states that the variegation is not guaranteed, but it's worth a try surely? Also on offer are some Ad. somalense seeds so I'm going to be bidding yet again. No chance of keeping it from the DH as it goes on his Paypal account, lol!!!
Gill from the UK.

My variegated adenium is just waking up and sending out new foliage. Hopefully the leaves will be as nicely variegated as last season.

Thanks everyone for continuing to add to this Adenium Forum.

I wondered if the lack of chlorophyll in some of the leaves would cause slower, weaker growth, leaf-scorch, damage by insects/diseases, or difficulties in growing these plants.

Now I know.

Frank

Hi. I believe variegated Adeniums are more difficult than green.

Only 1 variegated Adenium out of '?' remained variegated, others reverted to green.
A few variegates I've ordered from Thailand died, yet green did/are doing well.

Actually, one 4-year-old Adenium, w/silver veins, (if silver veined is counted as variegated,) silver veins is very pronounced.

I recently purchased another varigated from Thailand, but it's still dormant. Hope it's alive!

Variegated Adeniums aren't as cold-hardy. On their trip from Thailand to USA, each variegated rotted via shipping, green were healthy and firm.
Because of a certificate problem, my plants were shipped late. They arrived Christmas Eve, 2008, lol. Temps were single-digits that year!

Frank, many authors state, because of lack of chlorophyll, variegated plants produce weaker growth.

However, some authors claim seedling Adeniums, 'opposed to grafted,' produce weaker growth and more prone to disease.

I've never read variegated plants grow slower, but they do. lol. I know this as fact because of my experience growing variegated plants, 'of all varieties.'

As far as leaf-scorch or insects, variegated Adeniums aren't a higher risk.
If placed in direct sun after being in shade, both variegated and green could burn.
The same w/insects.

Although, if a plant has weak growth and/or diseased, chances of insects increase. Toni

I got mine last Jan but it's at least 5 yrs old. It was sitting on a bench in full sun in FL and the foliage looked fine, no scorching. It went dormant soon after arriving in MD. The new foliage is barely showing but if you look closely you can already see some variegation. It's breaking dormancy sooner then some of my standard varieties. I'm guessing it's not as hardy as a standard green adenium but probably hardier then a grafted plant.

This pic was taken about 10 days ago before it broke dormancy. The pot is 8" diagonal so it's putting on some size. Not the most desirable shape but I'll wait a couple seasons before taking clippers to it.
{{gwi:342554}}

Pleased to say I've just got the 5 variegated seeds from EbayUK I mentioned above so I'll look forward to sowing them as soon as they arrive. Will keep you posted on their progress...or not as the case may be.
Won the Ad. somalense seeds also, just can't resist can I? lol!!
Gill from the UK.

Hopefully you'll get some nicely variegated babies. I have to look up A. somalense. I don't know what they look like. Good luck.

Here's the new foliage. It's still quite small but the variegation is easily seen.
{{gwi:344364}}

(thumbnail, click to enlarge)

Yes I hope so too Karyn, thanks for the pic of your variegated plant, it looks very promising coming out of dormancy.
Apparently, my mixed bag of Ad. somalense contains, King, Red, Black and 2 other varieties. They grow taller and more upright, have narrower leaves and flowers, less swollen caudexes and greater numbers of flowers that can sprout directly from the branches and caudex....but we'll see about that as I have to grow a plant first, lol!
Gill from the UK.

Here's the illustration of the variegated form I'm going to try and grow from the seeds I've ordered.
Gill from the UK.

{{gwi:344365}}

That's spectacular!!!!! Mine doesn't have nearly that much variegation and I'm not sure what color the blooms are.

Yes it caught my eye too. I personally think the white flowers compliment the foliage, whether I would like a coloured flower on it I'm not sure as I like the simplicity of this combination. What results I will get we will see. As mentioned before, flowers would be a bonus for me as I'm OK with just being able to grow a plant with an interesting caudex....but I live in hope every day!
Gill from the UK.

The white blooms really do compliment the foliage. I'm surprised that I like it as much as I do because I usually don't care for white flowers. Hopefully it won't take too long to see if the seedlings are variegated. Do you think you'll be able to tell after a couple sets of true leaves?

Gill , I hope your seedplants will look like the one in your picture ! ! !

You have grown some from seeds already , were they all-green all of them ?

My seedplants are all from the same seller but come from 24 different plants ( if he sent what he said ... ), and a few of them have som variegation. That's more yellow-and-green variegation and not so "dominant" on the plant ( there are also some all-green leaves on those plants ).

Hopefully I will. I have been in contact with the seller and he said....'The variegated seeds are just as easy to germinate and this variety does not need any different aftercare. The variegation may not appear at the seedling stage though, and sometimes will not develop at all! I have more variegated types on order, 'Star of Top' is an interesting one, the leaves will go white if they have too much sun, although I can't see that happening in the UK!'...and on that point I agree with him entirely!

Karyn, I noticed that yours appears to be more of a yellow/green combination, or is just the lighting? I take it that you have yet to see it in flower, do you know what colour the flowers will be?
Gill from the UK.

It does keep some of the yellow variegation but as the foliage matures it changes to white. The leaves are still mostly green. I'd love one with the amount of variegation as the one pictured.

Well I got home from work today and the postie had been with my seeds, I got 2 bonus seeds also!!! So I now have the 10 Ad. somalense, 5 variegated obesums and 2 obesum 'Chandelier' to try. Just googled 'Chandelier', it appears to be a pale pink with a darker stripe down the middle of each petal...that will do nicely thanks! Am at work again all day tomorrow so they will have to sit tight till Monday I guess as after yet another 11 hr standing shift I am ready for a well earned sit down with the laptop. I'll keep you posted.
Gill from the UK.

Hi. Gill, I was wondering what happened with the variagated seeds. Did you have any luck germinating them?

I miss Karyn1, please check back with us. I haven't see you for over a year.

Marie

Hi all, this is one in my collection with the variegated adenum grafted two years ago, it only flowered once and the colour is normal red rim and white throad. The other red flower in the photo was grafted three months ago and I was surprised it blooms so fast.

Alas, seeds of variegated varieties, as far as I can tell so far, usually don't produce variegated seedlings. But sometimes the non-variegated throw them! None of my 'variegated' seed produced any (not a single one) variegated babies unless it may come in later than 6 months growth, and it may. But I did get a few from supposedly non-variegated crosses.

As some variegates (usually striped and edged sorts) are often (but not always) chimeric, those will never come true from seed. But the speckled ones aren't likely chimeras and should be easier to grow and reproduce. I need a lot more time to study variegated patterns and 'albinos' in adeniums and it could take many years.