Stumped

This is what's left of my big beautiful sugar maple.  I wanted to replace it.  I know I can't replace the shade of a 60 year old sugar maple in my lifetime, but a growing sugar maple is still a beautiful tree.  But. That spot is the only place my front yard can accommodate a tree that will eventually get to that size.  The other half of the yard has both sewer line and power lines.  I will not plant a beautiful tree that will have to be hacked into compliance in a few years.  And to plant a large tree, the stump would need to get gone.   It's a very big stump, 30 to 32 inch diameter, almost a foot and half tall, and a lot of surface roots.  There are basically three options: pull it out (which really means dig an enormous trench around it and cut the roots as far back as possible), grind it to about 6 inches below the surface, or leave it.  Pulling it is the only option which would allow me to plant another tree in the same spot.  Grinding it leaves behind a lot of stump and roots, which, as they decompose over the next 5 years, would mean a tree planted there could sink and break it's own roots.  Thanks, but I've had enough of trees falling on my house.   I've been talking with the landscape folks and nursery folks and all advice is, because of the stump's size and proximity to both the driveway and the sidewalk/street, pulling it out is not advisable.  Grinding something that size is lots of money and isn't going to allow me to plant a replacement tree there anyway.  Leaving it is just plain butt ugly, and a constant reminder that it's gone. 

Yep, that leaves me stumped.

Me, stumped?  Yeah, not gonna happen.  It's time for some creative thinking.  And I'm thinking perhaps I should just bury it.  With the rabbits, I certainly have enough compostable material to use, then pretty it up with a layer of top soil and then some plants that don't need the depth a tree would.  And plants are a whole lot less expensive than a large tree.  Easier to move, too, as the stump/roots decompose.  Or I could get a half whiskey barrel to plop down on top of it and plant in that.   Perhaps a ring of peonies around it. 

My daughter had a great suggestion, too late but fun to think about.  She said they should have left the stump taller, then we could have carved a chair out of it.  Anyone else have suggestions?

Comments

[Jessica]

I turned a stump in my backyard into a birdbath perch.. with a nice solar fountain birdbath.. I have plans to build up the soil around it and plant things like you were suggesting.

[Helen]

I used a magnolia stump in my yard for a perch for strawberry pot with herbs (not strawberries so it was an herb pot?). I took out the grass and mulched and planted around it. It did not take the stump long to decay. Maybe four years before it was too soft to hold up the pot anylonger. I don't know if maple would be harder than magnolia or not. Cover it with compost and go with the plants. :)