Saturday, July 07, 2007

What to do with a stump

Stump grinding is expensive. Here are a couple of photos I took that show cheap--but creative--things to do with that stump in your yard:

The Grassmere historic gardeners placed a bird bath atop this stump. It works because the basin is as wide as the stump itself. You might also find a shallow copper bowl or galvanized metal trough. Native plants disguise the base for a natural look.

My favorite: the Ellington Agricultural Center's painted checkerboard stump. The gardeners added log stools (cut from the upper portion of the tree) for casual seats around the stump.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

My DH rented a stump grinder for the weekend ... it wasn't cheap -- about $100. But he, and our next-door neighbor worked on our yard and the next door yard. I think we estimated they ground out about 30 stumps that weekend ... some from 25' pine trees and some from slender, spindly trees.

Jora

Anonymous said...

When we lost a tree in a storm a few years go we had no choice but to cut it all the way down as it was split. It made me sad because it had been such a pretty tree and gave our yard so much shade. My husband cut the tree stump off level and I placed a large teracotta saucer on it. Just the bottom of a clap pot. I pad a little over 10.00 for it and it lasted many years. Then the stump had rotted enough to pull out of the ground. We planted a new tree in the same spot and it looks beautiful again. Thanks so much for sharing your blog. It is very nice. Roxie

Mama Squirrel said...

We went with a birdbath and three potted plants.

Anonymous said...

The checkerboard is a cool idea. I'm going to make one of these for the interpretive center at the State Forest I'm working at this summer.

screendoorgirl3 said...

Cute ideas. I can't resist rescuing a good stump when I see one. I live in New Jersey and unfortunately there were quite a few piled up after Hurricane Sandy. I think of it as recycling.Thanks for sharing!