Rosie & Vicki. This is so interesting. So hanging them in the tree would be more authentic and the tree version would be more decorative?

LOL, Rosie. In this area it is said that the wind over the opening of the bottle is the sound of the trapped bad karma or 'haint'.... until the sun can shine on the bottle banishing it. I do have some lighted trees and at Christmas I actually put some lights in the bottles. Just fun stuff.

I have seen them hanging and looking very decorative. The glass and colors adds to the artzy look. Spiked eliminates the need for string or wire tying...and since outdoors, those ties can sometimes rot. 99 percent of what I see are spiked or on welded rebar. The bottleneck slides over something stiff. I just thought you might like to have an historical perspective on how the southern bottle tree was used on the plantations and such. Those bottles are intended to howl..

this is a picture taken in rural Mississippi in 1933. It is not my photo. I do not know whose it originally belonged to. The bottles are on dead trees. This custom came with the slaves to Southern America and has been practiced in Egypt for centuries. There are even very old paintings of English homes with a small bottle tree in a garden. We are coming to the party late but with a big attitude.


If you want more information on the custom of bottle trees go to Felder Rushings web site. He is a southern gardener that now lives part time in England. He became interested in bottle trees as a youngster when he first saw one at an old homestead in the south. He has a very nice little bottle tree book also.

Yes Bonnie - haint. There is nary a post I don't edit because my survivor case causes letters to drop. I dont hit the screen hard enough. I fixed it. I have heard your version too about the spirits being trapped in the bottles, but did not hear about them burning up in the daylight. I have heard that once trapped ...the bottles taken down...corked in some fashion ...and floated in the river!

That's a cool version, Rosie. I love legends and pass-along stories. I will remember that. smiles

Thank you for the photo and info Bonnie and Rosie

In front of our supermsrket

I thought I posted a fav shape for a bottle tree...long and lean and dense.
Who Knows what thread it ended up on!
Needs enlarging to be seen in all its splendor

Now that is a bottle tree! I've never seen one so dense and full! I love it.

That is some tree! Wonder how they get to the top and of what it is constructed.

I could be wrong, but I think it is a real tree ( or was ) there are cut trunks of others right near bottom
I also think some plastic bottles are included in there and that red one is painted.

was looking at the pic on my iPad, so it was small.

Tap on it and it fills the page in ATP. I use iPad.

Rosie!

AND, speaking of "rust".... I love the house too!

Cool pics Rosie - thank you!

I love the house too,
Unfortunately, it is not mine.

Not sure if I've shared this here before or not, but here is a dragon head that my brother made me a few years ago.

Chris that is really cool. Your brother did a great job. I wish I had a small welder of my own. I like to repair things that have fallen apart in my garden and I feel weird asking a family friend to weld little things for me. I tried soldering but it doesn't work on some things.