Backround and objective: Codiaeum variegatum var. “Bush on fire” is an ornamental foliage shrub with beautifully variegated glossy leaves. The vivid shiny leaves add value for its quality in the export market.  Shade level greatly influences the amount of variegation in these plants. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different shade levels on the growth and quality of C. variegatum var. “Bush on fire”, in the Batticaloa district at the crop farm, Eastern University, Vanthrumoolai, Sri Lanka .  Materias and method: Graded level of shades were defined as treatments viz. open field (T1), 50% (T2), 60% (T3), 70% (T4), and 80% (T5) of shade levels.  The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design with twenty replicates. Measurements were taken at monthly interval and Analysis of Variance was performed to determine significant difference among treatments (p< 0.05). Results: The results revealed that plants grown at 50% shade level showed significantly (p<0.05) better performance in measured growth parameters viz. plant height, plant biomass and biomass partitioning, while the lowest performance was observed in plants grown at 80% (T5) shade level. In quality evaluation, plants grown at open field (T1) received significantly highest score. Further plants grown at open field showed compactness, appropriate leaf size and increased leaf thickness.Conclusion: From this study it could be concluded that, plants grown at 50% shade level would have received optimum light level as the growth of the plants was higher. However, open field condition is suitable for export oriented cultivation of C.variegatum var. “Bush on fire” in the Batticaloa district as the quality of the plants was high. Therefore  these findings are helpful for the commercial level cultivation of Codiaeum variegatum var. “Bush on fire”in the batticaloa district.