WANTED TO BUY: Ficus benjamina 'Variegata' with lots of white

[Hyn Patty]

Mine has a LOT of white on it. Do keep in mind that these are leaf chimeras so they can spontaneously loose the variegation on new growth. If it happens, cut that new growth entirely out or it'll take over. It doesn't happen often. Mine is a dwarf and I have had it a few years but I have no idea which cultivar it may be. When it gets larger I'll root some more cuttings from it.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Mine has a LOT of white on it. Do keep in mind that these are leaf chimeras so they can spontaneously loose the variegation on new growth. If it happens, cut that new growth entirely out or it'll take over. It doesn't happen often. Mine is a dwarf and I have had it a few years but I have no idea which cultivar it may be. When it gets larger I'll root some more cuttings from it.

Pictures... pictures....

 

[Hyn Patty]

All right, here's a photo detail of the leaves from a couple of summers ago. I don't have a photo of it off hand since I wired up the cuttings to fuse together into a single trunk but I can get a new photo. I've also rooted a number of cuttings I have given away so once it gets new growth later this season I'll root more cuttings. The place in Georgia I got it from regularly stocks them and I'm heading back down to Atlanta next weekend so I may be able to pick up more if they have them. It's called Cofers, in Athens, GA.

 

[Hyn Patty]

This is where I got mine. It was $6.99 or so if I recall and was 6 or so rooted cuttings in a pot together in a nice clump. https://cofers.com/

 

[Forsoothe!]

This is where I got mine. It was $6.99 or so if I recall and was 6 or so rooted cuttings in a pot together in a nice clump. https://cofers.com/

I would buy that in the absence of something larger. The site doesn't list any. Keep me in mind if you spot them. Buy them and sell to me.

The vendors on Esty are using stock pictures, not photos of their own offered stock. The industry uses the various names interchangeably and combined with using someone else's photos make shopping a crap shoot. I would be tickled pink to obtain 'Nicole'. Look at the photos on Ebay. They are pictures of 'Starlight'. The Starlight Express is the same thing. 'Nicole' is a 'Too Little' variant dwarf with a lot of white. You can spot one from across the street.

The Cofers site doesn't list any right now.

 

[Hyn Patty]

If I get over that way I'll keep you in mind. More likely I'll get more cuttings going off of mine as backups this year. The chimeras with a lot of white on the leaves don't grow fast. They are much slower growers than green ficus benjamina.

 

[Forsoothe!]

I'm buying 'Golden King' from GlasshouseWorks, but still looking for 'Silver Cloud', 'Variegata' and 'Nicole'.

 

[rodeolthr]

This is how Starlight should look if it's truly the named variety. I hunted for a few years before I found a grower in California selling them.

 

[Forsoothe!]

This is how Starlight should look if it's truly the named variety. I hunted for a few years before I found a grower in California selling them.View attachment 237039View attachment 237039

WOW!

 

[Hyn Patty]

It's /really/ hard to keep them alive if they have a lot of white like that and they grow slow for lack of chlorophyll. Prone to sunburn and bacterial rot a lot more easily too. I wouldn't want one like that myself. I don't think it looks good.

 

[Forsoothe!]

It's /really/ hard to keep them alive if they have a lot of white like that and they grow slow for lack of chlorophyll. Prone to sunburn and bacterial rot a lot more easily too. I wouldn't want one like that myself. I don't think it looks good.

Us big shooters spit in the face of adversity.