Japanese Maple 'Butterfly' in the back garden. 

Miscanthus senensis 'Gold Bar' with  abutilon in the yellow border.

Yellow Abutilon, and then in the . . .

. . . White Rose Garden

Molinia caerulea 'Variegata' under the rose 'Winchester Cathedral'.

Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides 'Variegated Pennywort' under 'Katherina Zeimet 'rose.

Silene 'Druett's Variegated' with same 'KZ' rose.

Iris pallida 'Variagata' near Rosa rugosa 'Alba.'

When Gardening Gone Wild posted a request for posts about variegated plants, I jumped into the archives to see what I could find.

The Japanese Maple, at the top, is in the pink stage of new spring leaves; it will soon be green and white. This is a small tree that I purchased at the wonderful Moraga Garden Center in Moraga, California.

My garden has many color themes, which I’ve found particularly inspiring– the “where shall I plant it” syndrome is rarely an issue. The miscanthus-abutilon pairing was a happy surprise.

Roses form the focus and structure in my garden, so it’s kind of fun to show a peek of the white rose section here. Green and white variegated leaves are a ‘must’ with white roses, and the molinea caerula is a workhorse clumping grass that never misbehaves– meaning there are no seedlings popping up in unwanted places.

The pennywort was sold as an aquarium plant, which I just had to try. It’s proved to be very dependable, long lasting, and doesn’t run too far a field.

The silene was good for a few years until it began weakening, and then reverting back to it’s non-variegated form. The blooms are a delight though.

The iris is in the white garden, for the foliage of course, but I tend to think of lavender as a plant the goes well in all the rose color sections, which are yellow, peach, pink, red, and white. 

Thanks GGW for the chance to show a little of my garden!