Get thee to a stumpery

A stumpery is one of six private gardens that make up this year’s garden tour on Vashon Island today and Sunday.

Though Weyerhaeuser might lay claim to bigger stump-filled spreads, this deliberately created 12,000-square-foot garden is just coming into its own on the property of Walt and Pat Riehl. It features more than 150 salvaged (and mostly upside down or sideways) stumps studded with epimediums, hostas and more than 75 genres of ferns.

The impetus came from Pat’s interest in ferns and their use in Victorian-era stumperies that were all the rage in late 1800s England.

“It’s a romanticized view of nature,” Pat Riehl said. But it’s become a real habitat for frogs, birds and other wildlife.

“It’s like entering another world. It brings me a lot of peace. There isn’t this riot of color. It’s very green … and brown,” Riehl said.

The Riehls say their garden is the largest privately owned stumpery in the U.S. The unusual garden was designed by British fern expert Martin Rickard based on a similar feature at Prince Charles’ Highgrove estate.

A metal and wood armature supports stumps piled around and over it, creating a short tunnel through the wooded ravine that is home to the gallery of stumps. Gigantic tree ferns further the Jurassic Park-like effect.

The garden area immediately near the home has a distinctive Japanese feel with bamboo and a ceramic figure that seems right out of an anime cartoon.

Further south on the island, a garden owned by Diana Garrett and Nicholas Anderson is a study in sustainability and native plants. The couple garden on two-thirds of their 3-acre property in the Tahlequah area.

Steller’s jays flit through the Douglas firs that shade the property. Snags stand 25 feet tall, pocked by woodpecker holes.

All debris collected on the property stays on the land, built into 5-foot-tall berms that keep deer out of the garden by creating a visual barrier while providing habitat.

“Everything that drops down on your property – think of it as nesting material,” Garrett says.

Though Garrett has owned the property since 1988, it took on its present state only after she and Anderson became a couple a few years ago.

Garrett, a garden consultant, mentor and naturalist, describes her garden philosophy as “native coalescence.”

“Basically, I grow gardeners,” she explains before being interrupted by a sneezing raccoon relaxing in a holly tree.

That holly tree, some ivy climbing up a Douglas fir, and a modest use of turf are signs that Garrett and Anderson aren’t fanatical about using exclusively native plants.

A cabana with a hot tub is the centerpiece of the back garden. The front garden slopes down to a sandy beach next to a naturally fed pond Garrett dug out several years ago. A bowl of cracked corn waits for a family of local ducks.

Seventy maples of 47 varieties pepper the garden, along with hostas, gunnera and psychedelic podophyllum in colorful pots.

Four other private gardens on Vashon and Maury islands round out the tour.

Craig Sailor: 253-597-8541

craig.sailor@thenewstribune.com

Browse the gardens

What: Vashon Allied Arts Garden Tour

When: Today and Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Where: Blue Heron Arts Center, 19704 Vashon Highway S.W.

Tickets: $25

Extras: Seminars, art market, sculpture and plant sales, music

Information: 206-463-5131; www.vashonalliedarts.org Gig Harbor tour

It’s a double dose for garden lovers this weekend as seven private Gig Harbor gardens open to the public

What: Gig Harbor Garden Tour

When: 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. today, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday

Where: Tacoma Community College Gig Harbor Campus, 3993 Hunt St., Gig Harbor

Tickets: $25

Information: 253-460-2399