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A Stumpery You Say?
Sonya Kutz
Rose and Flower Garden Intern
In spring 2006, there are some major changes taking place in the Hardy Fern Garden, located across from the Fernery. As this year’s Rose and Flower Garden Intern, I was given the opportunity to redesign the Hardy Fern Garden as part of my intern project. With help from much of the Arboretum staff, the new garden, which will feature a large selection of hardy ferns set in a naturalistic setting, is nearing completion.
One of the most obvious and exciting features of the new Hardy Fern Garden is the stumpery. What, you might ask, is a stumpery? Well, stumperies were first created in the mid-1800s during the British Romantic Movement. During this period, there was a shift from classical forms of art to art that romanticized the lifestyle of the peasantry of the Middle Ages. Garden design began to focus on a highly romanticized and heightened illusion of nature.
Edward Cooke created the first stumpery at Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire, England sometime around 1856. Cooke created his stumpery after being inspired by the rooteries created in previous years. Rooteries were piles of roots and soil in which plants were grown. Cooke took the idea of rooteries to the next level when he created a ten-foot wall of stumps, roots, and stems on either side of a path within a garden. It is interesting to note that Cooke’s creation of the first stumpery coincides with the height of the Victorian fern craze.
For our stumpery in the new Hardy Fern Garden we took uprooted tree stumps and used them to form a seated arbor along with a few free standing sculptural pieces. These stumps provide the perfect woodsy setting for the main feature in the garden, which is the hardy fern planting.
The new garden, which was planted this spring, features over 30 different kinds of ferns that are hardy in the Delaware Valley Region. With that many ferns, you’re sure to find a new favorite that you’ll want to add to your own garden.
As you visit the Arboretum, be sure to check out the transformation going on in the Hardy Fern Garden. And, while you’re there, take a moment to relax in the seated arbor and enjoy the beauty of the ferns around you.
Click here for a map of our Garden Features
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