Here ar pictures of a Rhubarb leaf that I just finished and painted. It measures 2 feet wide by 2 1/2 feet tall. I just couldn't resist when I found such a big leaf to work with. I used plaster of paris. Building a form large enough to hold the sand base I covered the wet sand with plastic wrap. Then placing the leaf face down onto the plastic. I then cut wire mess(the type used for crawlspace vents) I laid it on the leaf,overlapping each piece slightly for strength. Then I cut a piece of copper wire to make a hanger and threaded it into the mesh at the top of the leaf. Mixed up the plaster of paris and poured. This leaf took 9 pounds of plaster of paris. ooohhh my! Waited 2 days to move it. lol Today I cleaned up the edges with a dremmel and painted it. using red,green,copper and brass. Then I sealed it with clear coat. All that is left to do is find somewhere strong enough to hang it. LOL Here is a link that might be useful: http://groups.msn.com/cementleaves

Congrats on your Savoy! I can understand why you want to keep that to yourself. I love the look of acid stains...that would be my first choice for outdoor leaves too if I could find a good green stain that could hold up to the elements. Any ideas? A bonus of casting the Tetrapanax is that the leaf peels away from the castings so easily....exact opposite of the large gunnera leaves! Steamboat Island in Olympia does have them in 1 gallon pots for $22.50. Also Steamboat sells them to Jungle Exotics in Tacoma(doesn't that sound like a great place to find wonderful leaf casting material!) I know neither of these places is exactly in the neighborhood... you might ask Laine @ Steamboat if she will bring one to Sorticulture in Everett next weekend. I know she will be at the NPA plant study weekend, but unless you're a participant I don't think you can buy plants there.Or you can wait till the end of the season and try Coldsprings, I help out there so I can keep an eye out for you...If you ever want to make another alder twig chair, I've got plenty of alder saplings on our acreage and nail guns. I would love to have someone show me the procedure!

Sheri, I wouldn't till in the pine needles. They are great on the surface of the soil, but they do not break down quickly in the soil so they will tie up your nitrogen for a long, long time. Till in the rabbit pellets. They are terrific. About the old tomato plants.....in general, it is best to avoid tilling them into the soil. Why? Because any bacterial, viral or systemic diseases they may have had can live in/on the old plants and infect the soil. That can cause major disease problems. However, research has shown that if you compost the plants in a hot pile (a hot pile is one that heats up enough to kill the pathogens in the compost ingredients) and then add them to the soil, the tomato plants grow exceptionally well in soil with the composted tomato plants. So, I always remove my garden debris in the fall, compost it and then add it back to the soil. I don't till it directly in though. If you have already tilled in the plants before you read this, don't panic. As long as you mulch the plants really well, you probably won't have a problem. Anything that may have been present in the plants will reside in the soil, but it generally would infect the plants (if at all) only through soil splash, and not through the roots. So, a heavy layer of mulch will reduce the chance of soil splash. And, how long have you had your plants from Keith? Did they have any sign of damping off or sickliness when they arrived? Have you been keeping them too damp, 'cause that will do it, you know. How big are they? I would have thought he would send plants large enough to be past the damping off stage? (sigh) If you happen to have any chamomile tea, you could mist the plants and soil with it to see if it helps. I think it is more of a preventive measure, though, than a cure. I hope you have a lovely day in the garden. I was out in my garden at 6:45 a.m. and it was 47 degrees, but this should have been our last really cold night, if you believe the 10-day forecast. If you have any more questions, post them and I'll check back every 2 or 3 hours during the day. (Whenever I come in for a short break.) Dawn

O.K. Brandon - I do believe you've been out in the sun too long :-) I'm sure that most of you could do better reading the instructions than learning from me, ha! Karen - we did wear gloves, and even a dust mask while mixing the dry ingredients and until the mixture was wet enough for there to be no dust. Most especially the perlite was dusty. I'm still excited about trying different things with it. I noticed they have a leaf casting class coming up a bit later - think I may sign up for that! And the hypertufa forum here on the GW seems to have lots of good info, but right now I've got maters, pepper, okra, and corn standing in my way, LOL. But after that I'll be getting started - so Brandon, all jokes aside, you'd be welcome to come over - but as I said, either of you guys would know more than me just by reading the instructions - I'm not real smart :-(