You may well get a varied opinion on this, but I am going to say not necessarily.

Several of the "vintage" ones are variegated and they didn't make it all those years by being difficult and fussy. Happy Harold (an early variegated one) is a great example. The cat knocked him on the floor 3x and he kept on blooming. The 4th time, I did a major repotting :) His leaves sent up babies very quickly.

Tommie Lou, the first variegated violet, took every bit of neglect I handed her in the last couple of years and was blooming away until I repotted and disbudded her. Nothing fussy there.

Now Optimara Modesty (a very nice variegated Optimara) has been a little slower to get babies but it's not difficult to grow.

Sometimes you do have to move them around a bit to find their light preference. Private Dancer (a Lyons plant) was never really happy except in an upstairs window. It will grow under lights though.

I see that one vendor is charging more for girl leaves and variegated ones but I'm not sure why. I suppose it's because the variegated ones may take longer, but I never heard any issues with girl leaves. I only had 1, which I was considering tossing, and of course it got babies pronto.

So - my answer is not necessarily. You do need to be careful so that they keep enough green to be healthy and a leaf that is too white will either not grow or be hard to start. Some highly variegated varieties are slow growers, but others are fine. It's all part of seeing what you like and what likes you.

Diana

In my experience the variegated plants are much slower to get going. They are worth the wait though. And you do have to experiment with light, some of them will burn in the centers with too much. One exception to the slowness is Decelle's Arctica. It produces babies like crazy and grows quickly too. Also, some of the Buckeyes are strong growers, but I have had problems with Buckeye Butterflies barely growing.
When propagating a leaf, be sure and get one that has a lot of green.

I had Buckeye Butterflies long ago. I may have been keeping detailed records then. I'll check-it will be interesting to see if I did.

I think some others have mentioned the Buckeyes as being slow. I didn't have too much left to start but several variegated are getting babies and it's been 2 mos. Admittedly, I thought they were slow but I've gotten very impatient :).

Diana

Mary,
Do you recall the name of the variegated plant you had that did not survive?
I find the plants with leaves that have edge variegation only seem to be stronger than the plants that have all over variegation. The ones with edge variegation make an attractive display and the plant often forms nicely into a whorl.
IMHO, they are not for the beginner and don't bloom quickly or heavily.
I agree, Diana, they take patience!
Perle, now you have given me another plant to look up and add to my list!
Joanne

I agree with DIana. They're not more difficult just maybe a bit slower to grow and bloom. But they're worth it!

Linda

I did check the records for Buckeye Butterflies and I didn't keep track of when plantlets formed. However, I did have a "repotted" date for that group and it was repotted with the others so the plant was growing with everyone else.

It's been almost 9 years but I think I'd have remembered one that took forever. I think I kept track of when the plantlets came for awhile but mine seem to come up at least as fast as everyone else's (on a group where they were using multiple methods). I suppose I quit when I decided my way was as good as any. I'd hate to count the number of ways I've read :)

Sometimes I order something that looks like it may not do well but I love the looks of it anyway. Keeps life interesting.

I was surprised at how promptly Witch Doctor (the mosaic variegated) has gotten babies. I suppose that's another one that is a tough one. I know it has a lot of bad comments but mine has its flowers up above the foliage at the moment.

Diana

This post was edited by quimoi on Thu, Mar 20, 14 at 14:19

Mary, perhaps let us know which variegated you are considering, we can let you know if we have experience. Also, if you do a search on this forum with the word variegated, you might find older posts from folks who have a lot of experience. In general, they need a little less light, they have smaller than average root systems so they don't need as much water. Guard against over watering. Joanne

This post was edited by fortyseven on Thu, Mar 20, 14 at 16:04

The variegated violet that died and her sucker died too was a noid from Lowes. She had quite a bit of green and had lovely single, pink flowers. I found a similar one at a grocery store which is Optimara Romance. So far, Romance seems to be doing fine. She had two suckers that I have rooting in water (no roots yet).
I do have Romance isolated at the end of the light fixture. When I got her she was soaking wet so I took paper towels and blotted all the excess water. That seemed to work.
Mary

Sounds good. Optimara variegated are strong. Blotting the excess water was good. As you already know, they don't need as much water. You might want to repot in your own mix in a couple of weeks because the O mix used tends to be heavy and holds water. V's are a little more sensitive than regular O's, but still strong. The first one that died may have been just bad luck. That has happened to me. I like V's, so I keep trying and eventually get it right. Joanne

This post was edited by fortyseven on Fri, Mar 21, 14 at 0:14

Diana
The Buckeye Butterflies name sounds fun, so I looked it up.
Will you try to reorder the Buckeye Butterflies?

Perhaps the vendor you mentioned is charging more for certain types of leaves because they are harder to find.

I recently got an O variegated plant Friendship. It arrived in bad shape. Limp from being overwatered with half its leaves broken off. I placed it in a window so it could dry out. It recovered and is blooming.

Glad you commented on Private Dancer. Saves me from ordering it.

Joanne

This post was edited by fortyseven on Fri, Mar 21, 14 at 5:19

Okey Dokey. Optimara Romance. I had this one along with O. Modesty. For me, it was fussier. I have no a/c and it just collapsed 2x in the summer. No other plant was affected and I had a lot of them then. It was side by side with Modesty. I had an opportunity to replace it and passed it up. Someone else had issues with it in the cold so it may be a fussier Optimara. It was pretty enough.

Joanne,
No, I won't reorder B. Butterflies. I had a lot of plants then and it was doing fine, but I didn't like the variegation on it for some reason. It looked dusty to me and everything else under that light looked great. Maybe it needed something else.

I love Private Dancer though. Nice flowers, but it's a little overshadowed by the 2-1/2+ ones of Arctic Frost beside it.

Diana

Diana, thanks for the feedback! Joanne

I know I'm a little late to the conversation, but I have to throw in my two cents about Private Dancer, because even though Diana's right that it can be a little fussy about lighting, it's still one of my very favorite variegates. It never did well under lights for me, but once I moved it to a window, it immediately started putting out loads of buds. And the variegation is just gorgeous. Here's a pic of just the foliage.

WOW! I LOVE the variegation on those leaves!!!! Now just to add some flowers to it and it would be even better than perfect.

That is a beautiful Private Dancer! Very good growing!

Mine flowers quite freely too.

(What an oddball though regarding the light!)

kcgirl,

What fertilizer are you using? I had O. Modesty turn pink on me and I think it was from overfertilizing with Optimara. Both it and Private Dancer had always been white and that's how I like them. Modesty isn't very pretty with it's pepto pink.

Diana

This post was edited by quimoi on Thu, Apr 24, 14 at 15:09

Interesting observation about the light

It is Bloomlovers in Canada that charges more for girl leaves and variegated ones. She doesn't explain why. Some of them are uncommon (perhaps the girl ones moreso) but not all of them. Her prices aren't unreasonable although she only sends one leaf vs. two or more other places. I got 6 of a variety which was just plain overkill! They must have been grooming them.

I suppose she would explain her thinking on the charges if someone asked her. She's always been nice.

I set leaves of Private Dancer 1/21 and they have good-sized babies now so it's not slow. Maybe some variegated types are. Happy Harold is definitely a baby-making machine.

Diana

This one was grown mostly with Optimara fertilizer. But I am embarrassed to say I recently ran out so I have been using some Miracle Grow AV fertilizer that I had on hand. Thinking of trying either Jack's or DynaGro when I place my next order. Can't find any urea-free stuff locally.

But I will say that I saw more of a difference in variegation color when I changed lighting as opposed to fertilizer...

This plant has lots of flower stalks and buds right now, so when they open, I'll try to post a pic of her in bloom.

Thank you. I really did overdose mine so maybe it was just that. It changed windows but just from one in the front of the house to the other in the front of the house so shouldn't be too different.

Check Jack's carefully if you don't want urea. I think it may have it. It appeared that I'd mostly used Peters 20-20-20 when I'd bothered, but my plants had been neglected for a long time. That Peters has urea and the Peters that doesn't is a bloom booster. Since I had enough Optimara to last a long time, I don't think I used it much. Which Dyna-Gro are you thinking of trying? I recently got the foliage pro and am afraid to use it on the variegated ones now.

Maybe I'll just replace Modesty. I don't know if plants can go off that way or not. None ever did it before.

Please do post with the flowers. Do you think they are blue? We think they are purple, although Lyons calls them dark blue (raspberry edge, ruffled). They are nice but it is one that I wouldn't mind if it didn't bloom.

Thanks again for sharing that one. I don't think we see enough of it.

Diana

I had this, it was violet in color, or a bluish purple rather than a warmer purple color. As Linda has advised, horticultural blue is what an artist would call violet or royal purple. When a grower says purple, they mean a reddish purple. The monitor does not photograph red very well, so a purple violet will photograph blue. J

Sometimes they will say blue-violet. It is not as blue as Arctic Frost and didn't photograph as blue as it or O. Texas. True, Holtkamp says O. Texas is light blue but I say whoever wrote that was a little off. Pixie Blue says purple-blue. I don't think it's any more purple than Private Dancer.

Diana

This post was edited by quimoi on Fri, Apr 25, 14 at 16:32

If you are going to use Peter's fertilizer, use the one labeled for African Violets. As Diane says, the others have urea. I have found this particular kind difficult to find. I now use Dyna-Gro because I couldn't find the Peter's and I've been happy with it.

Linda

Which Dyna-Gro formula do you use, Linda? And where do you buy it? I can't find any locally...