Bold, recycled and ideal for anyone with a not-so-green thumb, bottle trees are a Southern tradition with deep roots.
Plastic gnomes and flamingos aside, the most perplexing objects I’ve seen sprouting from gardens are glass bottles. This upcycled specimen—a series of colorful, empty vessels branching out from a central trunk—is a bottle tree, and it’s as much a Southern tradition as pecan pie. But its origins reach back centuries and across continents.
What Is a Bottle Tree?
It’s generally agreed that bottle trees date back, at the very least, to the 9th century Congo. However, some garden gurus believe they go back even further—as early as 1600 B.C., when hollow glass bottles first appeared in Mesopotamia. In any event, the tradition carried over to the southern U.S. through the slave trade. Legend had it that the bottles trapped evil spirits. For that reason, bottles in cobalt blue—a healing color—were preferred. Similarly, Southerners have long painted porch ceilings blue to ward off bad spirits.
Today, bottle trees have spread across the country. One of the most impressive displays sits right on Route 66 in Oro Grande, California. With thousands of vessels glistening in the sun, Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch is more like a bottle forest.
How to Make a Bottle Tree
The quickest way to get your garden glass going is to find a suitable tree and simply slide your bottles onto its branches. But if that’s not an option, you can always buy a pre-constructed metal frame.
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