How to build: A Stumpery
What is a stumpery?
A stumpery is essentially a rockery built with stumps, roots and logs instead of stone. A great addition to a shadier spot in your garden, you can plant up your stumpery with shade loving ferns, hostas and primulas. The best stumperies tend to look as natural as possible, featuring gnarled logs and prehistoric looking plants – a bit like a scene from Jurassic Park.
Why build a stumpery?
Apart from them being an interesting and attractive garden feature, stumperies are a brilliant habitat for your garden wildlife (T-Rex not guaranteed). Dead wood is probably as important to wildlife as live wood, providing shelter and hunting opportunities for both predators and prey. Ground beetles prowl the nooks and crannies looking for slugs, newts and frogs take shelter beneath the stacked logs and the abundance of invertebrate food could also attract birds to your garden.
How to build a stumpery
What you’ll need:
Digging/grafting spade
Hand Saw
Mallet
Drill (optional)
Logs, stumps and branches
Ferns (and/or shade loving plants)
Peat-free compost
A varied selection of logs works best
Step 1. Collect chunky logs, stumps and branches of different shapes and sizes. Using various species of wood works well and the more twisted and gnarled the better! (Tip: make friends with your local tree surgeon. A lot of the time they have logs going spare.)
This damp shady border was the perfect location for a stumpery
Step 2. Choose a spot in full or partial shade where the logs will stay damp and roughly plan out the area for your stumpery. Remove any “weeds” or plants you do not wish to incorporate - these can be composted or replanted elsewhere. Just be careful of anything that’s already living there!
Remove unwanted vegetation and dig a trench
Step 3. Dig down around 30-50cm. If your chosen location already has plants you think would work well in the stumpery, simply dig around these to create a network of trenches.
Who knew placing logs could take so much thought!
Step 4. Now for the fun part – arranging your stumps. Place the stumps into the hole so that they overlap each other in interesting ways. Cut to size if needed. You’re aiming to end up with lots of pockets which can either be filled with soil for planting or left empty as hidey holes for wildlife. (Tip: drill some holes into larger logs to provide places for insects to hide or even solitary bees to nest.)
Logs arranged around existing plants and back-filled in with soil.
Step 5. Once you’ve arranged your logs (it’s surprising how long it can take to get the perfect arrangement!) backfill the holes with soil ensuring that a good portion of the logs are buried. You may need to firm some of them in with your foot or give them a tap with a mallet.
A good selection of ferns to add a bit of green.
Step 6. You could leave your creation like this, letting nature take its course, or you could now plant it up with ferns. Try to source a mixture of deciduous and evergreen ferns which are suitable for the size of your stumpery and also the climate where you live. Plant your ferns in and around the tree stumps, incorporating peat-free compost and horticultural grit, if needed. Species such as Hart’s-Tongue (Asplenium scolopendrium) work particularly well and you could also add spring bulbs, primula or hostas to give some colour.
Step 7. Stand back and marvel at your creation. Over time, as the plants become more established and the stumps start to decay, you will see your stumpery evolve. You might even be lucky enough to spot a froglet bouncing between the logs or notice fungi sprouting from the rotting wood. Happy building!
Still feeling a bit stumped?
If this all seems like too much heavy lifting, why not let us build you your very own stumpery? Get in touch today for a free quote.