Here are the best white Wandering Jew plant varieties with frosty, silvery, and creamy leaves that can outshine even the classic purple ones!
Most of us picture a Wandering Jew as that trailing purple-and-green vine from grandma’s kitchen window. Fair enough, since Tradescantia zebrina and Tradescantia pallida get most of the attention.
But the Tradescantia family has a whole other side that leans white instead of purple. Let’s get into the best white Wandering Dude varieties worth adding to your plant shelf or a shady garden bed.
Best White Wandering Jew Varieties
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1. Tradescantia sillamontana ‘White Velvet’
Botanical Name: Tradescantia sillamontana
This one earns the word “white” without any argument. You’ll also find it sold under names like White Velvet, White Gossamer Plant, or Cobweb Spiderwort.
Every part of it, the leaves, the stems, even the little buds, is covered in soft, silvery-white hair. That’s where the “cobweb” nickname comes from. It actually comes from dry, rocky hills in Mexico, so it does not want the constant moisture a regular zebrina loves.
Pro Tip: This is the biggest mistake people make with White Velvet. They water it on the same schedule as their other Tradescantia and end up with soft, rotted stems.
Instead, you should let the soil dry out almost all the way before you water again.
2. Tradescantia sillamontana ‘Variegata’
Botanical Name: Tradescantia sillamontana ‘Variegata’
This is the rarer sibling of the plant above. It has that same silvery, fuzzy base, but with streaks of creamy yellow-white running through the leaves. It looks frosted and hand-painted at the same time.
Those Variegated leaves have less green pigment to work with, so this one grows slower than the plain sillamontana. It’s also pickier about light.
Too little light and the cream streaks fade back toward plain green, since the plant tries to make up for the lost pigment. So make sure you give it bright, indirect light with a little morning sun to keep the variegation sharp.
3. Tradescantia fluminensis ‘Albovittata’
Botanical Name: Tradescantia fluminensis ‘Albovittata’ (also sold as Tradescantia albiflora ‘Albovittata’)
People usually call this one the White Stripe Wandering Jew, as it looks much closer to the classic houseplant, with glossy, fleshy leaves. It grows fast and roots from cuttings almost too easily, which makes it great for filling out a hanging basket in a hurry.
The catch is that, like other fluminensis types, it can turn invasive in warm places with no frost. If you plant it outdoors somewhere mild, keep it in a pot or a bed with a clear edge instead of letting it spread into the lawn.
Here’s something worth knowing: the amount of white in the stripe changes with light. Brighter, indirect light usually means a wider, cleaner white stripe. Keep it somewhere dim for a while, and the stripe often shrinks back toward plain green.
4. Tradescantia fluminensis ‘Variegata’
Botanical Name: Tradescantia fluminensis ‘Variegata’
Sometimes called the White Line Wandering Jew, this one is closely related to ‘Albovittata’ and gets mixed up with it often. The difference is in the stripes. Here, they tend to run the full length of the leaf in cleaner, more even lines instead of one broad band down the center.
It grows and roots much like its sibling: trailing, quick to fill a pot, and easy to start from a stem cutting dropped straight into a glass of water.
You can even go on and make a decor setup with a lovely glass propagation station!
It’s honestly one of the easier variegated houseplants to grow from a cutting, which makes it a great one to share with friends or grow more of cheaply.
Pro Tip: Check the underside of the leaves, too. A healthy plant in good light shows a faint purple color underneath, even though the top of the leaf is mostly white and green. Check out this LED grow light option!
5. Tradescantia blossfeldiana ‘Variegata’
Botanical Name: Tradescantia blossfeldiana ‘Variegata’
This one is a bit of a showoff. Instead of one stripe pattern, it grows leaves in three different looks on the same plant at once.
Some leaves are solid green, some are solid cream-white, and some are classic purple. Add in the fuzzy texture and reddish-purple undersides, and you get one of the more eye-catching Wandering Jews out there.
Because the pattern is unstable, no two cuttings ever look exactly the same. That’s part of the fun if you like one-of-a-kind plants.
Care Tip: This one handles normal household humidity a little better than the fluminensis types, but it still likes extra moisture in the air. A pebble tray or a humidifier nearby keeps the leaf edges from turning crispy in a dry winter room.
6. Pistachio White Wandering Jew Variety
Botanical Name: Tradescantia zebrina ‘Pistachio White’
This one looks green at first glance, but look closer, and you will notice the silvery-white bands running down the middle of each leaf.
Light is the biggest thing you can control here. In strong, bright light, the silver-white bands get sharper, and the green deepens into a rich color. In low light, the leaf flattens out into a duller green, and that crisp white stripe is the first thing to fade.
Want more of it? If you are hunting for the whitest-banded cuttings, take them from the newest growth at the tip of a stem rather than older leaves further back. Young leaves almost always show the brightest, cleanest stripes on this plant.
Start with one, and don’t be surprised if you end up collecting the whole list once you see how different each one really is. Once you get the hang of what each type actually wants, these are some of the easiest plants you’ll ever grow.
