More Stumpery Upgrades - Two More Stumps - June 2026

#19 on my 2026 annual to-do list in the garden is to "upgrade the stumpery" in the backyard.  Those 'upgrades' are both in terms of plantings, but also what I'll (loosely) call 'place-making'.  

I first came across the idea of a stumpery in late 2023 when I discovered that King Charles has a world-class stumpery.  I started building my stumpery in the backyard by throwing a few stumps that I had on-hand in the area underneath the secondary Northern Red Oak tree in the backyard along the southside.

Last year, I planted a pair of Autumn Ferns and three Godzilla Ferns in the Stumpery and called it a day back there.    

This year, I have opted to upgrade the Stumpery via some plantings including (at first) seven Autumn Ferns (quart-sized) that I planted behind the All Gold grasses.  I also planted six Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs to the front of that same bed.  And, just this past week I posted about eight more Autumn Ferns that I planted.  Four of those went into the Stumpery.  The other four went in the bed closer to the house.  So, that's 11 new Autumn Ferns and 6 Ajuga Plugs in for the Stumpery this year.

Beyond plantings, I also added a couple of stumps to the setting.  This falls into 'place-making' and 'personality' in the garden.  

The Stumpery is #19 on my 2026 list.  But, right above it (at #18) is: "Placemake".  And #17 is: Add more Personality to our garden".  In my mind, upgrading the Stumpery with some additional stumps checks the box against all three of those.  

I was in the far back of the yard working on the compost bins and came across some stumps that I have laying around.  I grabbed two of them (they are small enough for me to be able to carry them myself) and brought them forward to the Stumpery.  I put them together, away from the existing stumps.  Separated by a space that I eventually want to build into a short 'path' that takes you from the lawn to the bench in the back of this bed.  (I seem to have FAILED TO POST ABOUT THE BENCH...eek.)

Here, below are a couple of photos.  First up is the pair of new stumps I added.  They both show a bit of 'root flare' and are from down near the bottom of the trunks.  Not stumps, literally.  But, sections of trunk.  The one on the right is a Hackberry and the other one is a section of trunk from the Norway Maple that we took down in our front yard.    You can see one of the Godzilla ferns on the left and Little Honey Oakleaf Hydrangea (that the rabbits have worked-over hard the past few years) on the right.  

Below is a wider-view of the area.  On the left are the two new stumps.  Closer to the middle of the photo are the existing stumps.  You can see the All Gold Grasses, the drift of Autumn Ferns, the newly planted North Wind Korean Maple tree and one leg of the garden bench peeking into the top left of the photo.  

As I've been planting this area up, I've left a 'path for a path' to provide access to the bench.  It looks to follow this kind of line (see below).  This requires some non-woven fabric to provide for a separation layer between the gravel and the earth, some edging (metal or something else?) and something for the bench to 'sit on' (so the legs don't sink into the ground).

Another upgrade to this area (the Stumpery) is to think about adding some upright evergreens to the backdrop.  I wrote about this in January 2025 when I was admiring the row of three Green Giant Thujas that I initially put in as part of the Lilac replacement/relocation project.  I called for three, but I don't think I accounted for the Eiffel Tower Elderberry back there (there are two of them), so perhaps we look at two to start?  Like this (in the green highlighted/annotated version of this same photo):

Our original landscape plan called for planting sets of three Canadian Hemlocks including in this understory bed.  The rabbits have killed all but one Hemlock, but seem to leave the Thujas alone.  Maybe some Hicks yews - which have done well in other spots - might be the answer in the Stumpery backdrop here, too.