A leaf that wins the battle against the wind

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This nifty green maple leaf is a wonderfully functional doorstop -- and a vast improvement over those ugly brown rubber wedges or big rocks we’ve been using for years.

I spotted Loose Leaf recently at Pot-ted on Los Feliz Boulevard in Atwater Village, a shop that never disappoints when it comes to cool, affordable garden and home items. The 6- by 7-inch deciduous doorstop is $12.50 and looks like it wafted out of the sky to land on my front porch. I slid the edge underneath the door and left the stem sticking out. It does the trick perfectly.

Loose Leaf is a product of Fred and Friends, a wacky Rhode Island-based design firm. Check out their other tongue-in-cheek kitchen, home and bath items -- things you don’t really need but will want to have anyway -- at the Fred and Friends website.

--Debra Prinzing