Bottle Tree

I have posted quite a few images recently on Instagram of our porch and backyard and our bottle tree has been spotted in the backyard. It recently got a bit of a refresh and I think that's why it has been noticed. 

Do you see it back there? It is beside our little garden pond. It has been in that spot for at least 20 years. 

Are you familiar with bottle trees? They have a long history and were believed to ward off bad spirits and any evil that might involve the people living nearby. Today they are considered to be garden art by many and southern homes have versions of the traditional bottle trees in their gardens. Originally bottles were hung in live trees or put on tree branch stakes driven into the ground. 

For a while I had to use a mix of bottle colors because the cobalt blue ones can be hard to find. You can see in the image below that I had two shades of blue on it when this picture was taken. But my goal was always to have lots of cobalt blue bottles on my bottle tree. 

Strolling through Publix a couple of weeks ago some cobalt blue bottles caught my eye on the water aisle. I stopped. Are they glass? Yes! I grabbed a four pack and took them home. The brand is Saratoga Sparkling Water and it is so good which is a bonus because I wanted to get quite a few more cobalt blue bottles for my bottle tree. Another bonus is that the glass bottles come in two sizes and the labels peel right off. I've linked them in Amazon in case you can't find them at your local grocery store. I mixed the two sizes on my bottle tree because the other bottles were a variety of sizes already. 

My bottle tree has been in that spot by our little garden pond for over 20 years and I've had only 1 bottle break in all those years. I love how it looks with the light shining through the cobalt glass. 

My "tree" is very basic. I used a 4x4 post that had been painted white and was already a little chippy. It has continued to weather over the years and I like that look. We used pieces of rebar as the "branches"  to hold the bottles. We just drilled a snug hole at an angle and used a rubber mallet to drive the rebar in so it is secure. Then you simply slide your bottles on. That's it!