Add year-round color to your garden with a bottle tree

April 6, 12:09 PMHouston Gardening ExaminerGreg Shelley

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Greg and Kristin's bottle tree

Besides adding enduring color to your garden, bottle trees are also known to ward off evil spirits. At least, that is a belief carried over from Hoodoo (African folk magic) and other offshoots of Voodoo, which is still widely practiced across the southern states. All I know is that I am not aware of any evil spirits in our backyard since we built our own bottle tree.

In the past, the entire notion of placing a tree of bottles in your yard was less than popular. But, now you can find them enjoying considerable popularity and almost always certain to make an appearance at most garden shows. I don’t recall my first exposure to them, but I know I did get some inspiration from a book Kristin (my wife) bought me: A Man’s Garden, by Warren Schultz. I highly recommend it for men and women alike (great photos and commentary). Kristin was actually the source of most of the inspiration because I was a little reserved about putting a bottle tree in our garden for fear of being deemed weird by the neighbors. (As if all of the other sculptures and oddities and our obsessive work in the yard had not already earned us that moniker.)

I definitely enjoy the tree now, as it provides a nice blast of color and works as a contrast to all the other living things in the garden. We chose to build one from scratch rather than purchase one because it seems to have more meaning to us that way, and it also happens to be the cheapest way to get one. Many beautiful varieties are available for purchase from the internet and at garden shows, but most of these are built with an iron framework and priced like the art that they can be.

We used a treated 4 X 4 post cemented into the ground as our starting point. We then drove eight-inch nails into the post at varying positions to create a look similar to a traditional evergreen, even though it still has much more symmetry than that. The majority of the bottles placed on the secure nails are shades of amber, blue, and green. I have seen some bottle trees made in a single color and that does create a stunning effect, especially if done completely in red.

Before building your own, I suggest taking some time to peruse photos of different bottle trees, so you can get a solid idea of which kinds you like best. (Just do an image search online for bottle trees.) Once you have the supplies together, putting the tree together is usually a single afternoon task, depending on the complexity, and bottle placement is something to which multiple people can contribute. As for getting the bottles, try letting your friends and neighbors know what you are planning to do and get them to save some for you. In the meantime, a glass of wine with dinner will help build up your resources as well. For that matter, go ahead and host a wine party and build your supplies up quickly.

For now, here’s hoping that the only spirits in your garden are Good ones.