Many years ago when we lived in Memphis, I was at a customers house and saw what he called, "poor mans stained glass." He had taken the trunk of a cedar tree, trimmed the branches so that they were 4-6 inches long, then inserted antique bottles on some/many of the branches. The light danced happily on the multicolored bottles and I thought to myself, "Someday I am going to have one of these."

Fast forward to this year. After Christmas I scurried around and collected a number of discarded Christmas trees. The goats were delighted by them, nibbling off all the needles and some of the bark. This week I was gathering the poor, naked things to put on our burn pile and I thought, "This trunk is really pretty, even though it is naked. It would make a great bottle tree!" So I nipped off the branches with my trusty garden wackers and then...

I gathered up a selection of old bottles from the front porch, and...

With the help of my daughter dug a nice little hole to "plant" the tree in.
Then we got busy...


This is a work in progress, I want to rearrange a bit and add more bottles, but I am pleased with the effort and had fun. It is nice to know, too, that the Christmas tree served many uses! Holiday decoration, goat fodder, and now garden art!
Love this! And, as always, your photos are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteLove this! And, as always, your photos are beautiful.
ReplyDelete