No. That is not a funnel holder.

We took down the walls of the shade pavilion greenhouse on April 21st, or as Andrew had taken to calling it, the plant fort. It's such a good feeling, Having all of the garden open again, even if it looks a little empty under there...

Photo from last summer, to show the way I like to see it.

As we were working Andrew caught site of a funnel (used as a planter) that I'd stuck into one of the holes on the metal top of the step, that's when he said the words that I've used to title this post "No. That is not a funnel holder." (I'd been walking around looking for a bit of ground to push it into, where it would be out of the way, and I swear there was a light bulb above my head when I dropped it into the step hole).

I don't think he was so much opposed to the idea of a funnel, as he was anything that would obscure the step. What he wasn't factoring in was that I'd successfully grouped plants at the edges of the step last year. Nobody tripped, nobody was hurt...

Why should funnels be any different? (2023 version above, 2024 as it is currently below).

So in case you didn't get where I was going with this, I'm all in with funnels as planters on the step. It's just too perfect!

There's one filled with a begonia that I received as B. sp. UI64 Michael Wicledon Collection that has been bumping around the garden for a couple of years, it's not fully hardy so it spent the winter months on my desk in the basement.

Hosta 'Cameo'—a miniature hosta with a mature size of  just 4" x 8"—was already in another funnel planter. It spent last summer tucked into a fluted planter with other shade lovers (this planter).

Since two funnels didn't seem quite right I decided to take the cactus that had been in my original funnel planter out (the step [aka funnel holder] is not in a sunny spot, so not suitable for a cactus), and put in something new, a semi shade lover. Three seemed like the perfect number. This one is a vintage motor-oil funnel with a flexible tube attached to the bottom. After years of being used as a planter the tube had rusted and was ready to break apart with just a twist of my wrist.

I looked around at my assembled crew of possibilities (all the plants I've bought that don't yet have homes) and decided this sweet little Pyrrosia davidii from Far Reaches Farm was just the thing.

Once I'd planted it up and grouped the trio for their photo-shoot, I realized there was a already a third; this one much larger (too big for the step holes) and planted up with a Pyrrosia polydactyla. That funnel is tucked into a very heavy metal base Andrew found for me.

So, back to the funnels in the step—the step which is NOT a funnel holder.

I love them.

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