Monstera Bulbasaur: The Coolest Monstera Ever!

Bulbasaur specimen in my collection

(photo taken Jan 2025)

It’s been 2 months since receiving my Bulbasaur from overseas and I still get excited when I look at it on my display shelf. The plant is surprisingly vigorous for such a variegated specimen, and I have had a lot of success with growing it in full perlite in a self-watering wick pot.

I have been really interested to know if the variegation can change based on environmental factors. While reading the patent documentation for Monstera Vietciosa (which may or may not be the same plant, but presents veeery similar, if not identical variegation) I found segments in the patent that indicate that Vietciosa can display more bright white variegation with darker green foliage when grown in cooler conditions sub 30C (86F), while warmer conditions above 35C (95F) seem to promote the development of more yellow, warmer colored variegation with lighter green foliage.

I grow indoors at around 70F, which will hopefully promote the development of cooler-toned, more striking foliage with white variegation. Assuming that Vietciosa and Bulbasaur may be the same, I have noticed that plants originating from Thailand seem to be more on the yellow/green side while plants sourced from Vietnam present much cooler. This thinking of course has been substantiated by the very few specimens that I’ve been able to see offered, and does not guarantee anything.

The leaves on my current plant were all sprouted overseas. The older leaves seem to be more on the cooler side than the newest leaf (pictured above). I’m not sure what temperatures my plant was subjected to originally, but if this temperature factor is true, I should be able to see a noticeable difference in the color of the new foliage. I’m not sure how fast/how many leaves it will take for that transition or if it will be quick to observe after just one leaf in my care.

The leaves of my plant do not seem to be affected by any sort of bleaching or import stress, which often makes the leaves look more dull with some slight yellowing. We will see what happens.