Rainsend, my experience trying to do what you want involves lots of skinny leaves breaking off in your hands.... no matter how much fiber you use. Look at the picture below (and the 3 following it) to see what I finally did. It is not a leaf cast but it did turn out to be very pretty. The first photo shows the initial result and the next 3 show different views of the same paint job. I do not have a picture of the final product - the same paint job with a coating of exterior urethane that added darkness to the reddish color and a slight amber to the lighter areas. I did this by coating the leaf with as "even" a coat of white cement (quickwall in this case) as I could get. ooops, I forgot an important step. FIRST, lay out a sheet of heavy clean plastic on a big sturdy table. Wad up a small amount of paper and decide how much to put under the center section of the leaf to give it alittle depth but still be able to put the leaf fronds flat on the table. It doesn't take much padding here - and JUST under the center vein area. NOW pick up the leaf and put it somewhere else and spray it with spray adhesive. I had some 10 year old can of stencil adhesive but I think anything would work. Next, go back to your clean plastic on the table and carefully (extra hands help here) lay the leaf down on the wads of paper and arrange each frond so it is separate from the others and push down so the adhesive makes the leaf parts stick to the plastic on the table. Get this all looking like you want and gently press down every edge so concrete won't seep under the leaf. NOW you can go back to spreading white cement very carefully on every part of your leaf. Try not to get much smeared off the leaf because you are going to have to clean up every bit before you go on. When you are happy with your white cement coating (at least a quarter of an inch thick.... more on the big solid parts of the leaf), get all the edges like you want. Because you surely will have made a mess somewhere, now sprinkle clean sand over the plastic sheet and between every separate leaf part. DO NOT get much sand on top of the white cement). Let all this dry for awhile. I waited about an hour. Mix up a big pan of gray concrete and color it whatever color you want. I added a small amount of red powder (concrete colorant) someone gave me to try. I used a hypertufa recipe(on the dry side... not runny ) because this piece was going to get too heavy with just solid concrete. The rest is easy and quick. You dump the colored (could be gray - just not white) mix over the leaf and pat it gently around so it covers everything and mounds up to the shape and thickness you want. Because the middle of this leaf is so deep, you need to have about a 2 to 4 inch thickness. Because you are using a mix that doesn't run, you can use your hands to give it a basic overall shape you like. All that sand you poured on the plastic will give the front of your piece a nice sandy finish which you will brush off later. check out the photos and see if this would work for you Laura Here is a link that might be useful: try here

Yeah, taking a closer look, it looks like the seller didn't give you very much stems to work with. All I see there are the petioles, which connect the leaves to the stems. New growth will only emerge from the stems, and you weren't given much of that to even work with. So I would ask for a refund or replacement, if at all possible.Here's a closeup of my plant's stems. They're what the roots are emerging from, as well as the petioles. Looking closer at your photo, I don't see any stems whatsoever. To me, it looks as though the seller just snipped off a couple of short growth tips and stuck them in some pots. Have you unpotted them? Do they have any roots at all? If so, then they might pull thru. Just as long as the stems, what little of them there are, are still firm and viable. Under ideal conditions, these plants just might make it. But unless you got these for a very cheap price, then they weren't worth whatever price you paid for them. My first ever Monstera was a very healthy, well-rooted plant with multiple stems and at least a dozen or so leaves, and it only cost me around seven dollars. I've seen large, two-gallon sized pots of Monsteras for sale at Home Depot for just over twelve dollars. I just took a quick glance of the selection over on Amazon and none of them seemed reasonably priced. Even if these plants didn't suffer any cold damage, I wouldn't find these cuttings acceptable. Not for those prices. Places like Home Depot or Lowe's sell large Monsteras for only $12.98. Much more bang for your buck. Get your money back and shop elsewhere. If the seller doesn't work with you, then post a negative review, along with your photo. They ripped you off.

Hi Rachael, I'm in Fairfax, however, we have been wanting to visit Roanoke in Spring. Ok with you to meet up there? We have trips already planned and visitors through latter part of April. If you are ok with waiting, early May work out? If so, we can arrange when to make plans. Nigel would be thrilled!

I recently started collecting tropical house plants. some of the lower stems of my split leaf philodendron are turning yellow, i try and moderate the amount of water i give my plants and I also have them in clay pots. I am not sure if the cause is over watering, nitrogen deficiency or am i dealing with some kind of pest or disease. I want to get to the root of this before it gets to the leaves. I keep her on a west facing window with indirect light. Also there is little bit of browning on the edge of one of the leaves, I was wondering if this is because of using tap water(we have flouride in our water). I would really appreciate some help.