I used homespun, but you could use a super bulky yarn

Wear the cowl in what would appear to be “inside out” so that the leaf tips show. You can see from the close up that the lower edge is actually the leaves inside out

Something I would consider if I repeated this pattern. It is a fairly loose. You could probably only double the stitches instead of tripling them. You could make the leaves longer then, and it would come up higher on your neck. Just a suggestion.