I grow mainly species aroids, orchids, all sorts of plants all tropical. I belong to the International Aroid Society, and have been collecting plants for over 35 years. I don't really see what the attraction is. The plain green form is a perfectly acceptable form. I think that like everything else, its a fad and will eventually burn itself out.
I do grow some hybrids. I have the Philo called Strawberry Shake, and the one called White Wizard. I have been offered $600 for a cutting of my (very variegated) Wizard. I turned it down. Why? because the same meristem that produced that one also produced 2 totally green offshoots. In other words, the variegation may seem stable, but over time, it may not be. (And I just really don;t want to cut my plant, it was a trade from a pretty famous Aroidist back in the day 15 or so years ago).
The single variegated Strawberry Shake I have came from a stand of 15 year old reverted Strawberry Shakes (reverted SS = Red Erubescens). Again, I have been offered hundreds of dollars. I said, no. Strawberry Shake reverts with demonic regularity. And for the same reason, it was a trade from the same person.
All the variegated adansoniis that are selling for over $1000 for a teensy plant are only a few leaves away from a potential mutation that can cause them to produce all green leaves again, just like all variegated Monsteras are also in that category. The one referred to as Thai Constellation (which is really just an Albo-variegata with very a diffuse variegation pattern IMO and in the opinion of a lot of other OLD, as in I am older than god and so are my plants, collectors who have watched their plants change variegation patterns several times over the course of 15+ years) seems more stable, but it too can start producing less and less 'speckled' leaves. People say it does not revert...that is not true. It can also start producing highly sectional variegation a la 'albo' if it really wants to LOL.
To add to the plot, a lot of these hugely overpriced plants are being imported by people who do not grow them for very long, if at all, and really have no real experience growing them. They are flipping them for 2-5X what they paid for them, and many sale forums have started banning people that they can tell are flipping. They are also largely unlicensed and uninspected by the USDA in their states, may be sending out pests on these imported plants, and its harder to hold them accountable for a 'bad sale' without calling the USDA and finding out of they have a license to sell, and filing a complaint whether they do or not (the USDA WILL investigate these complaints).
So variegated plants can be fun, but not when they cost the equivalent of many people's mortgage payment.
