No help from me. I looked for weeds to make concrete leaf impressions and found some large dock or was it burdock leaves but they are nothing like gunnera.

I begged the elephant ears from neighbors, mine didn't get very big. I was trying to work up courage to ask a grouchy guy down the block for hosta but didn't get to it. He thinks everyone speeds by his house and has done the had motion to slow down to me. 20 MPH is really slow and I have a heavy foot. I will check into burdock. The butterbur is suppose to be invasive but I have an area that I could use it in. Helenh, where are you in MO? I'm near Branson. Kathy

ladycraft,

You can always use the craigslist.org wanted section of the barter section.

Some of the most gorgeous concrete leaves I've seen are made from specific varieties of large leaved hostas that have deep veins. I'm not sure gunnera would have enough time to get big enough, but I haven't tried it yet. I've grown burdock and didn't have many large leaves. It took a while to get established.

But this doesn't mean they won't be successful for you. Just my experience.

The leaves on elephant ears will grow larger if you give them LOTS of water. They can take some sun too which might help. Mine did the worst in a shady area where they were competing with tree roots. They didn't grow well even though I was watering them quite a bit. They grew the largest on the north side of my shed where they were getting runoff from the roof of the shed, morning and evening sun, and no competition.
Is there such a thing as leaves that are TOO big? What's the best size?

Would castor leaves work? Those are easy to grow from seed. The leaves get large but they're deeply lobed so that might not be what you want.

Pictures please. : )

I wouldn't grow burdock in my yard on purpose. Do you have any waste areas around that grow up in weeds? Anybody that has it will let you get it for free I'm sure. I am afraid of castor bean but I think that is a good suggestion if you don't have small children or puppies. Does rhubarb have large leaves or gourds? I am thinking they are large but maybe not huge which is what you want.

Violet, I didn't think about cragslist. I'll give it a try next year.

Christie, I don't think there is a leaf that is too big if you reinforce it correctly. I was drooling over a big one a friend had and even cut it. They had several and it was suppose to freeze. I hate cutting them when there is more time to grow! But I didn't have a space big enough. The weather should be no lower than 70 degrees to cure so then I have to drag in the house. The door is only so wide and they are very heavy at that point. I will plan better next year. I had some caster bean leaves and they turned out nice but not as big.

Helen, I get the idea. I'll look for weeds. I had to move the rhubarb because of construction on deck but they should be good next year.

I'm at work and not sure how to attach a link for pictures. Will work on it tonight. Thanks for asking for pictures. Kathy

Would the leaves of nicotiana sylvestris be large enough? I noticed the leaves of the new ones coming up from dropped seeds this summer are huge. I will take a pic and measure for you when the sun comes up.

The largest leaf I had this year came from the Long Island Cheese Squash. It was over 18"x18", of course, it was a huge vine!

I'm not familiar with Nicotiana Sylvestris or Long Island Cheese Squash. I will go directly from here and find out. I don't have to have anything huge, just looking for different shapes. Thanks Kathy