Umbrella Leaf

The Umbrella Leaf can protect itself and eight surrounding plants against Bungee Zombies and basketballs. It is the fifth defensive plant obtained in Adventure Mode and the thirty-eighth plant overall. It is unlocked after Level 5-6. On the roof, it can also deflect the zombies that the bungees drop during the final wave. They cost 100 sun and have a fast recharge. The Umbrella Leaf resembles a small tree more than a leaf. When a projectile comes down, it raises its leaves and blocks it. The Umbrella Leaf appears to be based off of the real-life mayapple plant, Podophyllum peltatum, due to the positioning of the leaves.

Suburban Almanac Entry
Umbrella Leaf

Umbrella Leaves protect nearby plants from bungees and catapults.

Special: protects adjacent plants from bungees and catapults

"SPROING!" says Umbrella Leaf. "Didja like that? I can do it again. SPROING! Woo! That's me popping up to protect stuff around me. Yeah. Just like that. EXACTLY like that. Believe it."

Cost: 100

Recharge: fast

Strategy
Use these only on levels where Bungee Zombies and Catapult Zombies appear and place them around your most important plants. Each Umbrella Leaf covers a 3x3 square area centered on the Umbrella Leaf.

Plant Sunflowers in the back and on the next column put Umbrella Leaves on the second and fifth squares. Do the same for every third column after that, except every other time put them in the 1st and 4th squares instead to even out offensive plants. This strategy leaves the most room at the start of the level for offensive plants while leaving ample sun and is therefore best for setups that involve Kernel-pults or Cabbage-pults as starter offensive plants, and later progress onto Melon-pult. Another strategy is to plant Sunflowers in the back in columns one and two from the back in rows one, three, and five, place an Umbrella Leaf on column two, rows two and four. Place offensive plants in column one, rows two and four, and column three and four all the way down. Place an Umbrella Leaf in column five, rows two and four, and fill the rest of the spaces with offensive plants. Plant Tall-nuts all the way down the next column. This will allow for six Sunflowers and three offensive plants per row, which is plenty. Another column of offensive plants can be used instead of Tall-nuts if you wish to have four offensive plants per row, and place the Tall-nuts immediately afterward. This is a risk, however, because Bungee Zombies can steal your Tall-nuts and the Tall-nuts will take loads of damage and may be liable to being easily taken out by Gargantuars. This setup is optimal for providing relatively large amounts of sun while leaving ample space for offensive plants and is thus the best one if Potato Mines are used as stallers while saving up to go straight to Melon-pults. This setup has more sun at the beginning relative to the other setup, and will have the same total space at the end of the setup.

Survival Mode
Because Bungee Zombies and Catapult Zombies may appear on other Survival levels, you should plant Umbrella Leaves when they make an appearance. Plant them in the second-to-last column (second one counting from your house) in the second row from the top and bottom. You can use Gloom-shrooms to cover the plants not covered by the Umbrella Leaves, or plant more Umbrella Leaves where necessary; in order to maximize efficiency, only plant them in the second row from the top and bottom, and move your Sunflowers around to compensate for lost space in the rows. If you have Digger Zombies, you may want to use a second Gloom-shroom instead, while placing Umbrella Leaves in the back for Catapults. This is ideal if you have a strong enough defense to destroy Bungee Zombies, or if you are playing Survival: Endless. However, they are strongly recommended in the latter.

Trivia

 * The Umbrella Leaf moves a bit faster after a deflection.
 * A landing Imp and Balloon Zombie will not be deflected by an Umbrella Leaf.
 * It is very hard to tell the difference between a left-facing and a correct-facing Umbrella Leaf in the Zen Garden. To differentiate, one must look at its eyes, as a different one is covered by a leaf depending on which way it is facing.
 * If the players look closely, they can see that in the Zen Garden Umbrella Leaf moves faster.
 * It is possible for a Bungee Zombie to steal an Umbrella Leaf, if it has been planted after the Bungee Zombie has come down.
 * If an Umbrella Leaf is inside a Pumpkin and its leaves expand, the main body can be seen through the Pumpkin before it goes back to normal.
 * When a basketball or Bungee Zombie attacks an area protected by more than one Umbrella Leaf, then the Umbrella Leaf planted first will deflect the Bungee Zombie or basketball.