How do I use tree roots as a landscaping feature?

Question

I'm sure I saw a site on the Internet that showcased using excavated tree roots as a landscaping feature. I was inspired by the idea of "recycling" a tree stump and its rootball into a rockery garden by dumping a lot of soil onto it which forms pockets of soil between the roots where plants are able to grow. But I can't find anything about this method. Did I dream about this or does anyone know what I am talking about?

I'm having a tree root extracted from my driveway and would like to try this idea, but would like to research more about how to best go about it.

Answer 1

No you didn't dream it, and I'm guessing you might have actually seen the idea on a TV gardening show, that is where I was first made aware of this "Victorian" gardening style...

• Stumpery via Wikipedia

A stumpery is a garden feature similar to a rockery but made from parts of dead trees. This can take the form of whole stumps, logs, pieces of bark or even worked timber such as railway sleepers or floorboards. The pieces are arranged artistically and plants, typically ferns, mosses and lichens are encouraged to grow around or on them. They provide a feature for the garden and a habitat for several types of wildlife. The first stumpery was built in 1856 at Biddulph Grange and they remained popular in Victorian Britain.

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Listed below are links to helpful and useful articles on the subject of "Stumperies":

• Turn your eyesore into an asset

  • Gives information on, Materials, Preparation and Planting ideas.

• Create a Stumpery from Tree Roots and Stumps

  • Gives information on, Materials and Planting ideas.

• Creating a stumpery

  • If you live in the UK you can watch a video, if not, the page does list Ferns and Woodland Companion plants that can be used in creating a stumpery.

• Stumpery makes good use of storm debris

• Anatomy of a garden - Highgrove stumpery

• In this island woodland, stumped is not a bad thing

Who would have thought stumperies would be the next new, new thing in gardening? Stumperies hail from the 19th-century British Romantic Movement, which rejected the classical forms of the past while exaggerating the glories of nature.

• A Vashon Island stumpery is both magical and modern

Drawing on their love of ferns and the history of traditional stumperies, Pat and Walt Riehl of Vashon Island have created a modern version of this woodland garden. Among the many attractions are a tunnel entry and grottos full of tree stumps with their gnarly roots reaching for the sky.

• Public Stumpery Debut

Stumperies may be an acquired taste, as much historic and fantastical as they are visual. Yet they're the next new, new thing in gardening, pulled back from their Victorian roots and revived by Prince Charles, who in 1980 installed a garden of sweet chestnut stumps, ferns, and woodland plants at Highgrove, his country estate.

• Rhododendron Species Foundation & Botanical Garden

• The Hardy Fern Foundation

  • Stumpery Garden Built

• Fern Garden Stumpery -- on page 2 of 2 (direct link to PDF)

  • Contains a Plant list.

• Finnerty’s New Stumpery -- on page 6 of 8 (direct link to PDF)

  • Contains information on some suitable Plants.

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Good luck! and please report back here (post photos, etc) if you do decide to put together your own stumpery...

Answer 2

Sure you can do this. But...dead wood that is damp and in contact with the ground is also the perfect home for carpenter ants. Should you do this just make sure the wood is far, far away from your house.

If you still like the idea:

• cedar is more resistant to rot than other types of wood
• to get an aesthetic "natural" look up to two thirds of the stump should be buried depending on how much of the stump comes out, or you can bury it upside down. Most trees have their roots within a foot of the surface so you will get a nice web of roots suitable for pocket planting.
• from an ecological point of view a dead tree is worth more to the forest than a live one. Good for you for considering providing a home to, potentially, thousands of organisms.