This week, I’ve received several packages of plants ordered from West Coast mailorder nurseries. These are mostly favorites for small gaps in shaded areas such as jack-in-the-pulpits (Arisaema) and mayapples (Podophyllum), but I also ordered thirteen one-year Japanese maple grafts.
Isn’t the garden already too overcrowded to add so many trees, you ask? Of course, yes, but I’ll be growing the maples in my small nursery area along with hellebores and other seedlings. I have no clue what will happen to them as they grow, but the price was right and it seemed like a good idea at the moment. They’ll be gifts, or something someday in the future, but I’ll enjoy growing them. My wife just shook her head, a common response to another brilliant idea.
I will not add to the few Japanese maples in pots that stand on patios. I see collectors in small gardens with many more maples than I have, and while I would happily add many dozens more to the three dozen already here, that would require an additional acre of land. I want Japanese maples to be planted in the ground to enable them to grow to maturity. I don’t have the space or the years remaining, so I’ll grow these small maples for a few years and then figure where they’ll go.
In any case, I’m off to the garden center. A few plants are needed for the recently added stumpery (above) and an evergreen is needed by the stream. None of this will be a big deal. The stumpery will remain a small area with a few ferns set beside the massive stump of the fallen Bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla). The tree fell at an advantageous angle that caused little damage, and for better or worse the stump will remain since it’s too large to remove without considerable effort. Again, I like the idea.
I don’t believe there will ever come a time when there’s no room to plant. There’s always a nook or cranny to fill, something that’s not thriving, or an aged tree that falls in a storm. I’ll never have to stop planting. Please explain that to my wife.
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 
I learned a new word, stumpery! I thought you had made up the word until I found a Wiki article on it! This made my day!
I first saw a stumpery at the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden outside Seattle WA. I considered moving fallen trees from the forest bordering the garden, but that was too big a project.
Goodness! I know how it is when the price is right.
Love ‘the stumpery’ – would love to see a few more pics of it, did you place the small pieces standing up? Would like to create one! Thanks!
I don’t think the small stumpery looks like much today, but I’m hoping for better by spring. The upright logs were placed, dug in at slight angles not to look too orderly. I’ll show a few more photos soon so there will be a before and after.
Love ‘the stumpery’ – would love to see a few more pics and how you created it? Would like to start one – I have some tree debris! Thanks!
Love ‘the stumpery” – would love to see a few more pics – I have some tree debris that I might make my own with! Thanks! Susan Thurston
Dave – do you leave your small potted Japanese maples (& other small trees/plants) outdoors for the winter, or do they reside indoors somewhere until Spring?
All will remain outdoors. I’ll jam pots together for insulation and it’s likely I’ll pile leaves over the pots. Pots above ground freeze more easily, so a little extra insulation is needed. It’s possible that I’ll move them to the unheated greenhouse.
Thanks!! Normally I just move my bonsai indoors when temps are predicted to drop below freezing, but wasn’t sure about larger trees in nursery pots.