Question: I have a violet that, about a year ago, developed a variegated leaf, then another, until all were variegated. I started new plants from those leaves, but they all grew green leaves. The variegated suckers also didn’t seem to produce much variegation when rooted. Do you have any ideas?
Answer: Our guess is that this is just another kind of genetic mutation. We’ve had plants do the same, sometimes where the entire plant was heavily variegated. Except for one instance, we’ve never had any success in propagating variegated plantlets from leaves or suckers. Usually, given enough time, the original variegated plant also loses much of its variegation, or reverts back to solid green foliage. It’s really too bad, since a few of these plants have had absolutely exquisite variegation. If the variegation really is distinctive, keep trying. After all, much of what we have in today’s hybrids first showed themselves as mutations–‘Tommi-Lou’ variegation and yellow blooms being two very notable examples