What is a Stumpery?

There’s an old saying that you may have heard from one of your grandparents: “if you want a new idea, read an old book.” That proved to be true for us this week as we were reading a gardening guide from the late 19^th century, which mentioned a garden feature we hadn’t heard of before. Once popular in Britain during the Victorian era, the stumpery fell into obscurity before re-emerging again. So—what is a stumpery? Is there space for one in your garden? Let’s dig in and learn more about an old-fashioned style of landscaping that may be ready for a revival in 2025!

 Stumperies, Rockeries, and Victorian Gardens

A close cousin to the rockery—a rock garden framed and showcasing stones, rocks, boulders, and gravel—a stumpery is built around stumps, logs, and other remains of felled or fallen trees. First appearing in the garden at Biddulph Grange in Stokes-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the stumpery quickly became fashionable for then-contemporary gardens across England and the rest of Britain.

An outgrowth of the 19^th century artistic and intellectual movement Romanticism, the idea of a stumpery is to celebrate the natural and the wild in a way that is still carefully crafted and composed. Traditional stumperies featured stumps and logs buried in the soil—the stumps were often buried upside-down to add visual interest—and mosses, ferns, lichens, mushrooms were planted or allowed to grow among them. These in turn attracted insects and wildlife who weren’t often seen in more conventional landscaping, adding further interest for nature lovers.

Moving into the 20^th century, stumperies fell out of favor and were replaced by carefully manicured lawns and more regimented flower beds. They began to return in the 1960s and 70s as a result of the growing conservations and environmental movements and a desire to reconnect with nature while making use of discarded or “undesirable” materials. No less a personage than King Charles oversaw the installation of a stumpery at his private home as part of his dedication to the environmental movement, sustainability, and supporting native flora and fauna.

 Creating and Maintaining a Stumpery

So can you create a stumpery for your home garden or landscaping? The answer is “yes”, and probably much more easily than you think. The key thing to remember is that a stumpery is meant to be a way to reuse garden and landscaping waste; a small stumpery can be made of large or large-ish fallen limbs piled artfully or buried upright in a corner of your garden. In modern stumperies, untreated lumber, flooring, and other wood scraps are often used for an interesting angular look. Note: only use untreated lumber; treated lumber may add harmful chemicals or salt to your garden soil and adversely affect soil health and plant growth. A stumpery can be any size that suits  your garden, from a small corner to a larger, more prominent feature. While we can’t find examples of a container stumpery, there’s no reason it couldn’t be done. You can also turn a stumpery into a sort of natural composter, piling raked leaves around them to add to their charm and act as soil enrichment and habitat for insects and wildlife.

The fun part of a stumpery is that by placing stumps and logs upside down or horizontally in the soil, you create a variety of conditions and locations for plants to grow. You can install moss or ferns in shady damp corners, let native grasses find their niche in sunnier spots, and plant the flowers of your choice; bulb flowers like daffodils do well in stumperies and provide a fun seasonal “pop” of color.

The best part, to us, about a stumpery is that they re-use natural materials which degrade over time, enriching the soil, providing habitats for insects and worms, and attracting birds and wildlife. As proponents of gardening that works with nature, we’re big fans of stumperies and we can’t wait to try one. We hope you’ll consider doing the same, and let us know how it turns out. If you have a stumpery or experience with them, let us know how it has worked for you and pass on any tips you may have. Gardzen is all about community and we love to hear from you!