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New Cultivars You Probably Haven’t Heard Of (Yet!)
Published about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Issue #42
New Cultivars You Probably Haven’t Heard Of (Yet!)
Tradescantia Chrysophylla Variegated
Have you ever felt like you’ve seen every Tradescantia there is? That there’s nothing new to discover?
It’s easy to think that way, especially when the same varieties keep showing up in shops and online. But the truth is, new cultivars are being registered all the time. Some are spontaneous garden finds, others are carefully bred hybrids, and many of them fly completely under the radar.
In this week’s newsletter, I’ll introduce a few newly registered Tradescantias you might not have heard of yet, but that I’d love to see pop up in collections soon.
And of course, we also have a cute, fuzzy and variegated Tradescantia of the Week!
Tradescantia of the week: Variegated Chrysophylla
Tradescantia Chrysophylla Variegated
This week’s plant is a fuzzy one, Variegated Chrysophylla! It’s also sometimes called Variegated Baby Bunny Bellies, and if you’ve ever seen it up close, you know why. This one is still quite rare and hasn’t been officially named yet. It’s a natural mutation of the original Baby Bunny Bellies, and it’s just as soft and lovely.
Like the original, it has soft, velvety leaves and fuzzy stems that are incredibly soft to touch. But what makes this one stand out is the yellow variegation. The contrast between the green and yellow, along with the fuzzy texture, gives it a really unique look.
I haven’t seen mine bloom yet, but it’s said to produce tiny white flowers, just like the non-variegated version. Fingers crossed I’ll get to see them one day!
This one’s still pretty hard to find, but if you come across it, I highly recommend grabbing it. It’s a beautiful plant.
Tradescantia Cultivars
If you’ve ever gone down the Tradescantia rabbit hole, you know there are a lot of them out there. But did you know there are well over 100 different Tradescantias? According to TradescantiaHub, there were 144 known cultivars in existence as of 2023. (There have been many more over the years, but some have sadly been lost in cultivation.) And that number is always changing as new cultivars are introduced and documented.
About half of them are tropical varieties, the ones we love to grow indoors as houseplants. The other half are frost-hardy types that we grow in gardens even in colder climates.
What’s a cultivar, anyway? A cultivar is a plant that’s been selected or bred for specific traits, like unique leaf colours, shapes, or growth habits. Unlike wild plants that grow from seed and can vary a lot, cultivars are kept true-to-type by taking cuttings or using tissue culture, so those special features stay consistent.
So when a new Tradescantia cultivar gets registered, it means someone has officially named and documented a plant with distinct, stable traits.
Newly Registered Tradescantia Cultivars I always get excited when new Tradescantia cultivars are officially registered, and recently, a few interesting ones have been added! I don’t have any of them in my collection (yet!), but I thought it would be fun to share them with you. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll get lucky and find them available somewhere!
Tradescantia fluminensis ‘Austroverde’
Let’s start with Austroverde, a cultivar that’s been in circulation in Chile for a few years but has only recently been officially registered. It was named and registered by Iván Calfu in Panguipulli, Chile in 2025.
The name comes from Spanish: “austro” refers to the humid southern region of Chile, and “verde” points to the plant’s intense green color.
Although it’s been around locally since at least 2020, it hadn’t been formally recognized as a distinct cultivar until now. And while it may look similar to Tradescantia fluminensis ‘Viridis’, Austroverde has very different care needs.
It thrives in constant humidity and doesn’t do well in open air unless extra humidity is provided. In drier conditions, the leaves quickly turn yellow and die off. Flowers are rare or completely absent in cultivation, so this one is all about the foliage.
Right now, it’s only locally available in Chile, but it’s always exciting to see more regional cultivars being officially named.
Next up is Tradescantia pallida ‘Marley’, a new cultivar with a colourful backstory. It was named 2025, named by Misty Diaz in Katy, Texas, and collected and registered by Samantha McMahon in Windsor Heights, Iowa.
The plant itself is believed to be a spontaneous mutation, discovered in the rainforest of Puerto Rico around 2023.
Marley is still very new on the market, but it’s already starting to spread. It’s recently been introduced in the US and, as far as I know, has also made its way to the UK, which is exciting!
The foliage is what makes this plant stand out. The leaves are shaped like those of Pallida ‘Purpurea’, but instead of deep purple, they’re green with pink edges and lime-green variegation. It’s a greener version of the more well-known ‘Pink Stripe’.
I’d love to see this one in person someday. Hopefully it becomes more widely available soon!
Last but definitely not least, Tradescantia ‘BreeZerker’. This one is especially exciting, because it’s the first documented hybrid between Tradescantia buckleyi and Tradescantia pallida. It was bred, named, registered, and introduced by Bree Harrison in Austin, Texas, in 2025. The name ‘BreeZerker’ is Bree’s roller derby name!
The plant was grown from seed in 2024, with Tradescantia pallida ‘Ocampo White’ as the seed parent and a suspected Tradescantia buckleyi as the pollen parent.
Its overall growth habit closely resembles the buckleyi parent. But the leaves are hairy, and the flowers differ with it's light purple colour.
It’s newly introduced in the US and still very rare, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for this one!
Until next time, happy planting! 🌿
Katja
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Want to know how to care for your Tradescantias and keep them happy and healthy? Click ‘Subscribe’ to sign up for my newsletter! As a bonus, you’ll get The 4 Biggest Tradescantia Care Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them) straight to your inbox. Don’t miss out on these tips to take your Tradescantia care to the next level!
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