As if I needed more monstrous plants (I already have one giant M. deliciosa and just acquired a second Philodendron selloum), in addition to rooting two cuttings from the lanky, neglected Monstera baby I've had for years, I succeeded in making a brand new one! Just add water andÂ

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Presto! Well, she's not quite there yet, but a leaf sprout, two leaf buds, an actual root and a root bud is a far cry from the long, leafless stem I had pruned off the Baby M. Having past experience sticking pothos stems in water, and being continuously amazed at a plant's ability to regenerate itself from very little, I had a hunch I could force some growth on this bit. (I have since trimmed off that yellow bottom section; it is no longer living tissue.)

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When there is more root and leaf, this new plant will go to help fill in the pot with the other two rooted cuttings. That will technically be only three Monsteras: one pot with barely-there plants, a young tangle still relatively small (Baby M), and Big Momma (no relation), who is by this time completely out of control (I might need to propagate a few of her stems next) but providing such a lovely background for these photosÂ

Baby Monster itself is thriving spending its first summer outside, as evidenced by lovely (if the slightest bit sunburned) new leaves and hordes of aerial roots, most now sunk back into the soil of its pot. (I wasn't paying attention as the heat wave went on and on and on and the mosquitoes finally descended en masse: at least one of Big Momma's aerial roots dug into a pot that wasn't hersÂ) And lookee---

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Baby's first split leaf!!! I'm so proud.