Start by giving the soil a reset
The spot where a tree stood for a decade or two is almost never ready to plant the day the stump disappears. A mature tree spends years pulling moisture and nutrients out of the soil immediately around it, and the canopy overhead shades out the smaller plants that would normally keep that ground alive. What you are usually left with is dirt that is compacted, a little depleted, and low on the organic matter most plants want to root into.
Loosen the top eight to twelve inches with a digging fork, breaking up the compaction without flipping the soil completely. Pull out the bigger chunks of wood as you go, then work in two or three inches of quality compost. Water it thoroughly, and then, if you can stand to wait, walk away for a week or two. That short pause lets the soil structure settle so you are not planting into a hidden air pocket that slumps and leaves your new plant sitting in a depression a month later.
If you want to be precise about it, a cheap soil test is worth the few dollars. Portland soils tend to run slightly acidic, which most of our native plants are perfectly happy with, but it is good to know your starting point before you add anything.
What the old root zone leaves behind
If the stump was ground in place, you will have a quantity of wood chips mixed into that top layer of soil. A little is fine and even helpful as it breaks down, but a thick concentration of fresh chips can briefly tie up nitrogen as soil microbes get to work on them. You have two easy options: rake the excess off and put it to use as wood-chip mulch elsewhere in the yard, or simply mix in a handful of balanced fertilizer to keep new plants fed while the chips finish composting.
The deeper roots that grinding leaves behind are not a problem for grass or most plantings. Grinding only removes the stump and the major surface roots; the finer roots stay put, sitting well below the surface where they quietly decompose over a few seasons and actually add organic matter back into the soil as they go. You are not fighting a live root system anymore, just sharing the space with something that is slowly disappearing.
The spot where a tree stood for a decade is almost never ready to plant the day the stump disappears. Reset the soil first, then plant.
The best Portland natives for the spot
Our mild, wet winters and dry summers suit a remarkable range of plants, and Pacific Northwest natives are the lowest-effort way to fill a bare patch with something that genuinely belongs here. Vine maple gives you graceful, multi-stemmed structure and real fall color in part shade. Red-flowering currant is one of the first things to bloom in spring, and the hummingbirds find it almost the day it opens. Evergreen huckleberry holds its leaves year round and hands you berries as a bonus, while sword fern is nearly indestructible in exactly the kind of shade another tree tends to leave behind.
Natives also need far less summer water once established, which matters more every year as Portland summers run longer and drier. A plant adapted to our rain-then-drought rhythm will coast through August on almost nothing once its roots are down, where a thirsty ornamental will have you out there with a hose every other evening.
If you want flowers and pollinators, layer in some Oregon grape, salal, or camas alongside the structural pieces. The goal is a small planting that looks intentional and then mostly takes care of itself.
Sun, shade, and the right pick
Pay attention to what the old tree was actually doing for that spot before you choose anything. Removing a tree can change the light in that corner of the yard dramatically, and a plant chosen for the old conditions will struggle in the new ones. If taking the tree out opened the area to full sun, lean into lavender, yarrow, and coneflower, which will thrive and shrug off the dry season. If the patch still gets afternoon shade from neighboring trees or the house, hostas, ferns, and astilbe want exactly that and will sulk in too much sun.
Spend a day or two just watching where the light falls now that the canopy is gone. Matching the plant to the light is the single biggest factor in whether your replanting looks effortless or becomes a yearly struggle, and it costs nothing but a little attention.
Lawn, beds, or hardscape
A cleared patch is genuinely a blank canvas, and you have more options than just dropping in another tree. You can reseed lawn to blend the spot back into the yard, build a raised bed for vegetables or cut flowers, or lay a small patio, fire-pit pad, or path. Every one of those projects is dramatically easier when you start from level, clear ground instead of working around a stump and its roots.
If you are reseeding lawn, rake the area smooth, top it with a thin layer of compost, sow your seed at the recommended rate, and keep it damp until it knits in with the surrounding grass. If you are planting a shrub or a new tree, dig the hole twice as wide as the root ball but no deeper, set the plant at the same level it grew in its pot, and finish with a two-inch ring of mulch to hold moisture and keep the weeds down while it roots, leaving a little breathing room around the stem.
Get the timing right
In Portland, timing makes the difference between a planting that sails through its first year and one that limps along. Fall is the prime window for seeding lawn and setting in trees and shrubs, because the soil is still warm enough to encourage root growth but the rains are returning to do your watering for you all winter. Spring is the next-best window, with a long, mild runway before summer heat arrives. High summer is the worst time to start anything you want to baby, because the dry, hard soil and heat work against every new root.
For the full breakdown of what to do in each season around here, see our guide to the best time of year for yard and tree projects in the Willamette Valley, and plan your replanting around that first reliable fall rain.
Of course, none of this happens while a stump is still in the way. Once you have the stump ground out below grade, the spot is finally a blank canvas, and the rest of this is the fun part.