8 ideas for gardening around stumps and dead wood

Before resorting to more drastic measures, consider using stumps and dead trees to beautify the landscape.

Stumps in particular take a long time to go away because they're attached to a huge base of roots underground. Short of hiring a bulldozer or digging yourself dizzy, here are some other ways to deal with stumps and dead trees.

Unless you want to replant an area around a stump or the stump is in a prominent sightline, leave it in place.

• The easiest solution is to simply hide it with groundcover such as ajuga or periwinkle.
• Level the top of the stump and use it as a platform for a birdbath or decorative garden ornament.

Another way to disguise a stump is to turn it into a flowerpot.

• Unless nature has already done it for you, hollow out the interior with an axe or auger until you've created a cavity.
• Coat the sides with a layer of clay and drill a downward-slanting drainage hole at the base.
• Fill the cavity with soil and plant with trailing specimens.

A freshly cut stump will periodically send up new growth from its roots.

• Pull off or cut back these sucker shoots at their base and daub the wound with a herbicide.
• Killing the stump with herbicide in drilled holes will also prevent suckers from forming.

If you're not in a hurry to remove a stump, there's a slow but easy way to destroy it.

• Drill a hole five centimetres in diameter in its centre and fill it with 99 grams of saltpeter (potassium nitrate).
• Plug the hole with a cork and let the saltpeter penetrate for 10 to 12 months.
• Reopen the hole, pour in some kerosene, and set the stump on fire (the smell is unpleasant, so avoid inhaling the fumes).
• The flames spread slowly and turn the roots to ashes. After the embers have cooled, clean up any remains.

Note: Do this only on stumps that are well away from any structure. And check first to see if it is legal in your locality.

If local ordinances prohibit open burning, use any commercial solution with a bacterial or fungal inoculant, which will help the wood rot faster.

That's what a dead tree is, where nature is concerned.

• It attracts birds and provides a habitat for mice, squirrels and other creatures, and it can stand like a sculpture in informal, natural landscapes.
• It can also become an imposing support for climbers, such as English ivy, Boston ivy, winter creeper, Virginia creeper, clematis, trumpet creeper or climbing hydrangea.

If you have a dead tree on your property, first evaluate the risks it would pose if allowed to stand.

• Could it topple on or drop a limb on a building, utility line or a walkway or other place where people gather?
• Would removing some of its limbs or topping it back remove the danger? If not, it will need to come down.

• Once a dead tree becomes a log, use it to line a rustic path or edge a naturalistic garden bed.
• Place it beside a pond as shelter for frogs and newts.
• Drill cavities in the trunk or use existing crevices as planting pockets for honeysuckle, ivy-leaf geranium, rose verbena or cape plumbago.