Why I Oughta...

A few days ago, I wrote about a pair of small Canadian Hemlock trees in our backyard and mentioned that a place where I could add another one of the unique trees (Conifer that grows in shade), might be the stumpery.   I first wrote about stumpery gardens in the Fall of 2023 when I came across (now) King Charles Stumpery at High Grove .  Upon learning about the idea, I immediately ran back to my pile of wood pieces and grabbed a few stumps and hauled them up to a spot closer to the house.  With those three small stumps, I created my own stumpery .    That first growing season, I planted a few ferns around the stumps.  Last year, I added a few more.   I put some Shredded Umbrella plants in the garden bed adjacent to the Stumpery , but figure that I should add some of those to this bed this year.   In January 2024, I first documented the "winter interest" in the stumpery .  I seem to have not posted any winter/snow-covered photos from 202...

I spotted this annual outlook on gardening trends from Garden Design and will - I think - post about the full list at some point.  I've done that the past few years - 2022 trends -  and last year - 2023 trends .  There are a few items on this years list that are worth a blog-post-level exploration.   But...there's one item that was totally BRAND NEW to me.  Borderline revelation.  It was that in 2024, more gardeners are going to 'rediscover stumpery gardens'.    I read that and was like... Wait a second.  Stumpery.  What the heck is a stumpery?   I've never heard of a stumpery let alone thought about adding one or 'rediscovering' stumpery gardens.   Here's what Garden Design says : While once a Victorian fad designed to show off fern collections, stumperies are again making a comeback. Only now, the focus isn’t only on plant collections but also on creating wildlife sanctuaries while showcasing shade-loving pla...