Stumps and Mosses and Ferns, Oh My!

Here at long last is the next post on stumperies. The second stumpery I saw this past summer is known as the Renaissance Garden, and is part of Heronswood Garden on the Kitsap Peninsula of Washington State. I saw it the day after the stumpery in my last post, as a part of the 2024 Garden Fling (formerly Garden Bloggers Fling) in July.

I still can’t entirely explain why these stumps, logs, mosses and ferns make my heart go pitapat, but they do.

The Kitsap peninsula was extensively logged during most of the past century, and this stumpery is called the Renaissance Garden because it represents the reclaiming of the forest and the land. My friend Pat Webster, of Glen Villa Art Garden in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, suggests that, “To be truly memorable, a garden needs to grow out of an idea. It needs to mean something.” This garden certainly fulfills that mission.

Let me back up and tell you about Heronswood, to put it into some context.

Heronswood was launched when Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones took possession of the property in 1987 and began to develop Heronswood Nursery and Garden. They lived on the property, so it became both personal garden and showcase. In addition to many more common garden plants, the gardens highlighted the exotic species that Hinkley gathered in regular voyages across the world to collect rare and unusual plants, trees and shrubs. The gardens and nursery became well-known in horticultural circles.

In 2000, the nursery and property were sold to Burpee Company. Unfortunately, this did not work out well, and in 2006, the gardens and nursery were closed. A period of nearly complete neglect followed. Happily, in 2012, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe was able to buy the property at auction and begin a lengthy process of rejuvenation.

A small part of the more formal garden near the house

Some parts of the original garden remained if not intact, then capable of restoration, and significant parts of the original gardens can been seen. The decision was made, however, not just to restore, but to imagine the future.

In addition to the Renaissance Garden, there is a rock garden, a formal garden and borders around the house, a woodland garden, a garden which showcases the plants which the S’Klallam Tribe uses, and a Traveler’s garden, which highlights the plants brought in from around the world.

In the woodland garden

Many members of the S’Klallam Tribe had found work in logging camps over the past century, on what had once been their tribal lands. Now they had an opportunity to restore a part of the land. At the Renaissance Garden, in particular, there is the triumph of reclaiming land that had been exploited, beginning the process of making it whole again.

The stumpery includes some of the equipment of a typical logging camp, now rusting away.

So much life is springing up from the ruins of the old forest, nature moving in and taking over, with some judicious assistance and enhancement. All the shades of green are present, and dappled light filters through the trees. I find these decaying logs, the surrounding ferns and mosses, and the canopy of towering trees totally enchanting.

We were given a tour by the Garden Director, who talked about the ongoing process of putting it together and pointed out some of the unusual plants. At first I was surprised that they had not primarily used native plants in the restoration, but I imagine the exotic plants are part of the overall character of Heronswood.

As I have been reading over this post and contemplating these photographs, it occurs to me that this stumpery evokes for me some of the same feelings we had in the gardens Jason and I visited in Japan. There is a sense of how ancient the land is, the many uses to which our forebears have put it, and the meaning it has had to them. In these gardens, I feel surrounded by history and a powerful sense of place, and aware of the people who have been here before me.

At Ginkaku-ji, in Kyoto, there are no stumps, but there is a serious appreciation of tree trunks, ferns and mosses, as well as dappled light and a sense of reverence for place and history.

I’m not sure how I can put a photo of one of my first stumpery logs right below these gorgeous pictures of Heronswood and Ginkaku-ji, but here it is, as a teaser for my next post, all about the beginnings of a stumpery at Garden in a City. And here’s the best part: I’ve already written the post, and it is queued up to publish about 48 hours after this one.

Are you ready to rush off to a stumpery right now? Are you looking at your local trees with new eyes? Or are you wondering if winter isolation has driven me batty? As always, please let me know in the comments.