Plants with variegated leaves are highly popular and make great additions to your garden, but they bring up the question:  "what is variegation?"  Variegation is often just describes as a plant with multi-color leaves.  For the most part, variegation is caused by mutated plant cells.  These mutated cells lack the ability to produce chlorophyll, which is what gives the leaves their green color.  Many times these cells will appear white, but in some species these cell might appear another color like yellow or pink.

Often, variegated plants will grow slightly slower then non-variegated varieties.  This is because they have less cells that are able to produce food for the plant.  That is not to say that these plants are not hardy, or that there is something wrong with them.  With their unique design and color, variegated plants are highly sought after items for gardeners.  They give depth and color to landscapes.