Anyone made a stumpery?

[TheIsleOfTheLost]

I saw a display in our local garden centre about stumperies. I have an allotment and one end has a very large sycamore next to it, so no food crops will really grow in the shade there. Branches have a tendency to fall off on winter storms, so it is likely I could get some free branches and I have some logs at home. I quite like the idea of a stumpery.

Has anyone here made one before and if so how successful was it? I am already overrun with slugs and snails this year, so am a bit wary about making more homes for them, but would love a home for other mini beasts. It is very heavy clay soil and currently is just couch grass that I have to mow. If you have then what did you plant amd what was successful?

Alexandra did a on stumperies recently.

The first stumpery in Britain is the one atBiddulph Grange

Video

@senua I love cyclamen, that's a really good idea. I am definitely on the smaller side of the gardens in that video!

@MereDintofPandiculation that garden is absolutely beautiful. Some great ideas there. The tunnel is a little ambitious for now!

Yes, we have one, which wasn't deliberate - when we moved in someone had left the remains of some large stumps in the corner of a disused patch of land, and we left them there out of inertia. Then we kind of liked how fungi grew on them, and birds came to peck at the beetles, so whenever we cut down something log-sized we put it there. Periodically I encourage something fern-ish or notice something new has put itself there. It's enjoyable and I would imagine if you changed your mind you'd either clear the area carefully (for the wildlife) or leave it to rot away, depending on the timescale you had and the size of any stumps.

There’s a newish one at Arundel Castle, too.

@SarahAndQuack that sounds amazing! Exactly the sort of thing I want to end up with.