Variegated plants/coloured leaved plants...love em or hate em?

I think that is because the cream areas on the leaves burn in full sun. I reckon most/all Cannas need plenty of sun to flower well?

My Exotic garden is in shade - the sun comes through some gaps in the trees. There is one particular strategic gap, facing East, that gets the morning sun and where I have planted the Cannas that I most want to flower well. They all succumbed to the earliest frost, so I suspect that (like Camelia buds, and Spuds) sun on frosted foliage is very damaging, but allowed to warm up slowly increases the amount of frost that they can take. Perhaps Fleecing the plants, for nights with frost very early on in the Autumn, will do the same trick?

 

I love variegated Holly actually.. looks wonderful in winter..

 

Yes, that is one variegated plant that I do like in Winter time. Although topiary specimens usually just strike me as "odd" rather than "handsome" or somesuch.

I expect that many/most? people will like this, I like the fact that a pair of topiary has been lovingly created over many years ... but the fact that it is variegated gives me a feeling that I struggle to describe. Brash? Out of place? something along those lines ...

 

What about Taxus standishii? During winter it is olive green turnng bright yellow in early spring with red berries. Tall and imposing. I grow Taxus Coppershine too. This has green/white leaves in mid winter that become a coppery orange colour in spring/early summer.....really eye catching....and then yellow until now. Such conifers dont stay same...they provide different colours throughout the year to mark the seasons. And, Taxus are so easy to grow, don't burn, or go brown, seem resistant to pests, can be pruned as hard as you like and tolerate everything but waterlogging.