I have to clean up my yard first, though. Then I can finally have my bottle tree. Ages ago I wrote about bottle trees on this blog. I admit that when I first saw one, I thought it was “tacky,” but bottle trees “grew” on me, in fact I had intended to have a bottle tree before that summer was out. That was in 2007 … and I still don’t have a bottle tree!
Mr. Tucker had a stump cut down that would have made a good one, but he never had time to make it for me. To be fair, a bottle tree was pretty low priority. We needed firewood this winter … and my potential bottle tree went up the chimney.
What? You don’t know what a bottle tree is? I guess you have to be from the South to know them. Read the post to get the history … or view this picture of one that Debbie, in Wisconsin, sent me. She makes her own wine, she says, which explains her fascination with the wine bottles. I’m not going to ask her how long it took her to drink this much wine. And, I’m definitely not going to admit how little time it would take me to do so.
Debbie contacted me to let me know that I can find bottle tree stands that are relatively inexpensive at Collections Etc. I think she figured out that I had never gotten one, since I didn’t post about them again. This one looks quite elegant, and you can put fruit on it to feed the critters and birds if you can’t drink wine fast enough. They only cost $17.99!
Debbie found me at Garden Web, I think. It’s a forum where gardeners can connect with each other. I haven’t used it a lot, but you can get some great information there. If you are a gardener and want to see what other folks are doing in their back yards, you might want to visit it and join.
I’ve ordered two bottle trees from Collections, Etc. Thank you, Debbie, for telling me about them and for sharing a picture of your lovely bottle tree. Your “Katgotchertung” wines sound intriguing. Hopefully my bottle trees will arrive soon, however I’ve made a bargain with myself: I get to put up the bottle trees as soon as I get the yard clean!
Excuse me, I have a date with my leaf blower … and then I have to drink some wine so I can decorate my bottle tree! Y’all come on over. I’ll be happy to share my wine if you can rake leaves.
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We must be on the psychic bloggers network, Shelly. I wrote today about a guy who has more bottles than you can shake a tree limb at, albeit filled with 500 different kinds of soda pop, most in glass bottles and made without hfcs. (I don’t know why CommentLuv isn’t picking up today’s post; sometimes it doesn’t.)
Maybe he can send some empties to you. It’d be worth an ask since he’s powered by his passion for pop. Better yet, you could just order some interesting soda. You didn’t say that you would deck your bottle tree with only wine bottles and I’m guessing you don’t start drinking wine until noon! You could have two species of bottle trees: one wine, one soda pop. Maybe he would send you a case of soda in a variety of different colored bottles. Some are really beautiful in a last century sort of way.
In any case, I’m scratching my head over the bottle tree idea but sometimes the heart wants what only makes others’ heads itch. I fully understand the motivation to clean up the yard before erecting your little glass poems. You’re not going to put lawn elves next to them, are you?
.-= Joy´s last blog ..SPRING LAMB =-.
*snicker* I won’t be putting out any yard elves. But, I was thinking about pink flamingos…. nah.
I like “glass poems.” Now, I talk a big game, but I don’t drink that much wine. The water I drink comes in fancy bottles though. No, I don’t drink Denton’s tap water!
I’ll have to show this one to my wife; she might like the bottle trees as fruit holders for the birds. Too bad I gave up drinking last year, Shelly, otherwise I could have helped you ‘populate’ your tree! I’ve gotten rid of all the bottles, along with about 400 corks I’d collected over the years.
.-= Van Sutherland´s last blog ..Memories of Peru, Part 1 =-.
I don’t drink that much wine, Van, and will probably put some fruit on mine, too. But, then again, the squirrels would be all over it and knock down the bottles. Why didn’t you make a “cork board?” We used wine corks to make a bulletin board, and it was pretty cool.
{This coming from the woman who thinks a bottle tree is exciting.}
Well, we have one cork board trivet, made by a friend from some of ‘my’ corks. I think she made about 20 trivets, actually. My collections was built up over many years, and I was a bit sad to give them up. Strange how we form attachments to silly things.
.-= Van Sutherland´s last blog ..Memories of Peru, Part 1 =-.
Corks are not “silly things.” I always thought it was interesting to collect them. A trivet is a good use for them!
I wrote about bottle trees a while back too – I think they are amazing.
But I would have to have a mini one in my tiny NYC apartment lol.
I’ll have to get some of those tiny bottles of hooch you find on airplanes
.-= Frances´s last blog ..Madame Meme =-.
Tee hee … you are just looking for a reason to get those tiny bottles of hooch! But, you could get one of those tiny wire trees that people use for Halloween decorations! It could happen, Frances!
I’m starting to save small bottles that are pretty also… garage sales are good places to look also.
I’m going to attemp to color the “inside” of some plain bottles for a separate tree… I could do a partiotic one…. a “girly” one…hmmmm…. now my creative juices are flowing!
Debbie (bottle tree fame)
Thank you again for the tip, Debbie and for sharing your bottle tree with us. I hadn’t thought of coloring the inside of any bottles, but that might be fun if the paint will stay in there. Let me know how it goes!
These bottle trees are amazing! The only thing I have seen that resembles this is a “bottle yard” (for lack of a better term) on Route 66 between Victorville and Barstow. This yard is unique because the trees are adorned with hundreds of glass bottles. However, it isn’t nearly as pretty or artistic. Oh, and what a great excuse to drink!
Oh, Shannon … I don’t need an excuse to drink *laughs maniacally*
I decided to make a bottle tree two months ago. IT IS MADE. I picked up bottles as I walked. I bought bottles at the craft store (alas, painted, they won’t last long) I bought wine in beautiful blue bottles. We have many trees so it was easy to find a dead one to recruit. Good luck with yours. Sorry, I have no bottles left for you.
Getting the paint to stick on the inside wasn’t as easy as I thought. I persevered though and have a pastel “tree”. The metal ones I bought were not as strong as they touted and a good wind snapped off a couple of the “branches”. I couldn’t bear to lose my blue bottles, so I took them all off. I haven’t decided what to do with it yet. I “planted” them in an ice cream bucket of cement for stability, then bury them in the ground. Some festive bows or your favorite team colors would work. This year I wound some white christmas lights in the bottle tree for nighttime effect.
Debbie
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