In all honesty, I would cut it to ground level and then have the stump ground, add some soil, and seed it. You may need to add a bit of soil periodically as the underground parts rot and reseed, but I don't find stumps of any height in a lawn attractive and even covered in Boston ivy it will still be a stump fully visible in winter. It also will take a bit of time to cover it and may require watering the container.

whether or not i might do it is not the issue ... i would presume its a budget issue .. but whatever ...and since the box is already there ... i presume its full steam ahead ...

ive been on a couple national hosta garden tours.. and some conifer regionals ... anyway .... the usual is.. all the perfect plants and garden art ... get boring .. lol ... so many gardens.. so much perfection ... but what really attracts the hordes ... is the unusual ... the weird stuff ... and you may become their king or queen ... go for it ...

its an interesting idea ... keep us posted over the years.. at it evolves ...

see link ..

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=dead+tree+stump+ideas&t=ffcm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

Boston ivy will be about keeping it inbounds and trimming it. Also, getting rid of it once you are ready might seem like a huge project. I'm still half heartedly trying to get rid of vinca after 6 years although I have mostly won the battle against English ivy, poison ivy and Virginia creeper. Always need to go in and pull any little starts every year.

You could instead plant something like nepeta or Russian sage all around (drought tolerant, open airy forms ) put a wire cage around the stump and plant more behaved vines like roses and clematis. There are also a well behaved honeysuckle vines, fruiting vines (grape, kiwi), etc. Downside is this will cost more than the Boston ivy at the start and would require some mulching. For cheaper options, Sweet pea vines are annuals that can be grown from seed and have amazing smelling flowers. Around here you can expect cone flowers and black eyed susan plants to be shared for free as they are very happy in our gardens.

NHBabs has a good point about the winter view - hard to contend with that.

one other issue.. might be the shallowness of the 4 x 4 ... and whether you can dig further into the roots that are there ... i would bet.. it will be hard to dig in the native soil ... and the little you add might be too shallow to grow in ...

ken

I would also just cut it down. Do you have a friend with a chain saw to make quick work of it? True, getting the stump ground out might take some $$ ($75 in my area depending upon how big around the stump is). And I agree with Ken that digging into that root bound soil will give you fits.

fits??? ... more like a sore back and blisters.. lol ...

ken

Nonnative vines can be a real invasive species problem. Why not plant a North American native vine with flowers like Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) or Clematis?

I would think that would be plenty of soil for the vines...a lot of vines are pretty tough. Thy will probably grow out of the box and root in the outside ground.

I actually think this could be quite attractive. I might cut it a bit shorter. You could carve a "plant pot" into it, fill it with dirt, and plant things in it.

I might fill the wooden box with wintergreen or bearberry.

If you're trying to avoid paying to have the stump ground out, but could have it cut level to the ground, I'd consider that. You could top the area with some dirt and plant something like geranium macrorrhizum -- it grows super fast, is shallow rooted, and would be easy to pull out when you're ready.