Bottle Trees

I have recently found myself wondering about these bottle trees I have seen on the net as well as in an occasional garden magazine.

I am no garden snob.

I certainly have my share of beloved garden junk. But I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would feel compelled to stick a bunch of old bottles on a tree and plop the darn thing right in the middle of their yard.

I started to research a little and I found this info on P. Allen Smith's site archive:

Bottle trees are a Southern tradition rooted in the belief that evil spirits become trapped in the bottles and therefore are not able to plague a house or its inhabitants. There is no wrong way to create a bottle tree, just use your imagination. Some gardeners like to build wooden posts with pegs drilled or nailed into them to support bottles. You can also use large, dead tree limbs that have been “planted” in the ground or simply suspend the bottles from the limbs of healthy trees by wires like wind chimes. Today most people balk at the idea of trapping evil spirits and simply enjoy the folk art behind bottle trees, which is lovely when illuminated by sunlight.

Ok. So there is some tradition and folklore. At least I now know where the idea originated.

Cobalt blue seems to be the coveted color. I must admit it is a pretty color.

I found another example here

Not nearly as striking as the blue one.

I am still not convinced..........right now I have it mentally filed just above the petunias in the commode.

I did find this man's account of making his bottle tree. It's pretty interesting to see how enthused and passionate he is about the adventure. His looks quite nice, too.