The cream-trimmed leaves of variegated elderberry (Sambucus nigra 'Aureomarginata') are particularly effective when topped with shiny black fruits in autumn.

IF WE AREN'T already convinced that good gardens are made by leaf more than flower, the stripes, splatters, splotches and splashes of variegated foliage will do the job. Although there's an ephemeral quality to the shimmer and surprise of variegation, it endures over the months-long life span of the foliage, forming the basis for entire color schemes.

Gardeners can be so snobbish about variegated plants. Some allow leaves trimmed in snow white into their garden, but nothing as vulgar as yellow freckles. Others appreciate delicate spring striping, but wouldn't hear of using splashed gold beneath the summer sun.

I admit that some variegations appeal to me tremendously - in fact, compel me to take them home and squeeze them in - while others seem garish or bland. But we miss so many possibilities if we don't let variegations light up and diversify our gardens.

Variegated plants are often weaker than their solid-leafed counterparts, and sometimes have fewer flowers. Many variegated plants need more shelter from hot sun, extreme cold or wind than all-green plants do. Yellow-variegated leaves color up best in sunshine, while some of the cream- and white-trimmed plants need more shade. And watch out for reversion: Sometimes all-green shoots will appear, and you want to cut them out completely so the rest of the plant doesn't follow suit.

Now In Bloom Laurestinus, or Viburnum tinus, is a glossy evergreen shrub useful for winter structure, with sweetly fragrant flowers for bridging the gap from winter into spring. 'Eve Price' is a more compact form with pink buds opening to white flowers.

The science of variegation is complex. The wide range of colors and patterns results when green-pigmented leaf chlorophyll is masked by other pigments, or is imperfect or absent in parts of the leaves.

Oddly, even variegations so lovely as to look expertly painted on first appear randomly as mutant variegated shoots on otherwise plain-leafed plants. Some variegations are induced by harmless viruses, such as the streaked colors of 'Bizarre' tulips or the leaf mottling of Abutilon pictum 'Thompsonii.' It always amazes me that a scientific phenomena can result in something as fetching as the yellow-spotted leaves of the leopard plant (Ligularia tussilaginea 'Aureo Maculata'). Despite its feline name, its rounded leaves and nearly bulbous splotches remind me of nothing more than a fat, lumpy toad. And to think it began as a random mutant.

In pot plantings I feature patterned foliages in all their glory, such as a drape of marbled nasturtium leaves (Tropaeolom majus 'Alaska') or a billow of the shimmery yellow-and-green-striped grass Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola.' In the ground, to create flow and avoid choppiness, I try to use variegations not as stars, but to emphasize solid-color leaves or flowers.

In midwinter, my front terrace is edged with a mass of silvery-leafed Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy,' which froths beneath the plain green foliage and little white flowers of fragrant sweet box. In an effective plant combo at the Flower and Garden Show this year, a designer used the hotly patterned leaves of Euonymus forunei 'Emerald 'n Gold' as a beacon to catch the eye and lead it to the more delicate yellow flowers of a witch hazel blooming nearby.

An easy way to integrate more variegation into the garden is to use dependable old favorites in their newer, variegated forms. The familiar carpet bugle now comes in metallic-sheened cream and lavender (Ajuga reptans 'Multicolor'), and the ungainly weigela gains new life when its pale green leaves have creamy-white margins (Weigela praecox 'Variegata'). Wallflowers come with leaves striped in bright cream (Erysimum linifolium 'Variegatum'), old-fashioned pink phlox has striking ivory and green leaves (Phlox paniculata 'Norah Leigh'), and the tolerant-of-nearly-all-conditions elder (Sambucus) can be found with golden or white variegation.

Valerie Easton, a horticultural librarian who writes about plants and gardens for Pacific Northwest magazine, is the co-author of "Artists in Their Gardens" from Sasquatch Books. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com.