Bottle Tree... and more

A few years back, the hubby and I went to the Mid-Atlantic Home and Garden Show.  That particular year there were whimsical garden displays featuring colorful tires and a Volkswagen... pure fun.  We attended an intimate workshop with Felder Rushing on Slow Gardening and were introduced to Bottle Trees.  It was love at first sight (the Bottle Trees, not Felder, though he is lots of fun!) and I knew that someday I would have my own Bottle Tree.

Never heard of them?  Yeah, totally Southern.  Totally NOT acceptable in many of the neighborhoods in Hampton Roads.  We, however, live in a cozy little working-class neighborhood where I garden like crazy and hang my laundry out in the sun and light luminaries along the walkway for trick-or-treaters and generally play in my yard.

Bless his heart, Tom had been collecting bottles since that garden show.  We now had a spare, if slightly warped, 4x4 post.  We have a beautifully red Japanese Maple with a perfectly indented spot in the foliage, right in the front.  Tom pre-drilled holes in the post and attached long, heavy nails.  We checked the look with some blue, green and clear bottles.

Hhhmmmm... I think I like it!  We finished it off with a cute white birdhouse as a finial.  Our outdoor dining table is nearby and we'll enjoy sitting there and watching light play on the colored glass.

 

Well, that was fun!  What to do with leftover bottles???   How 'bout further exploration of Southern recycling efforts?  Tom decided that there is never enough room for tomatoes in the veggie garden.  He thought we needed one more tomato bed... in the front... bordered with buried bottles.  He didn't even take the labels off!

What's next?  Maybe recycled truck tires, painted white, filled with geraniums, just like Grandma's house!

Find your joy, recyclers and gardeners... garden like no one is watching!!!