Trees and Shrubs With Variegated Foliage

Actinidia kolomikta, a standard of reference among variegated plants. Photographs on these pages by W.G. Waters.
The author’s departure on a protracted horticultural tour in Europe left the manuscript without reference to variegated privet and myrtle. These omissions in no way detract from the value of his survey of the variegated plants of greatest value in western landscapes.
When I think of the great many kinds of variegated foliage and the many effects they can have on those who appreciate them, I feel sorry for my gardening friends who determinedly shut out this entire range of plants from their gardens. Consider, for example, those somewhat anemic beauties with leaves that are partly green and partly cream or white, often with a pink tinge. They include such plants as Actinidia kolomikta and Acanthopanax sieboldianus ‘Variegatus’ and Cornus alba ‘Elegantissima’ — surely these are wonderful and appealingly delicate garden subjects. To persist in thinking of them as sick is somehow analogous to dismissing the more sensitive forms of human communication as neurotic; in both cases there is a graceful depart...