Wednesday, July 10, 2013

A Sudden Whim


It began with the bad kittehs knocking over the blue bottle with roses in it. I heard a noise in the living room and hurried to investigate.  

Water was flooding the leather desktop of my secretary and dripping onto the little Chinese rug in the floor. A  few feet away lay two bad kittehs, watching with what I can only describe as detached interest.

So, realizing that flowers on the desk were out of the question for the foreseeable future, I put the bottle in the kitchen and went outside to do a little weeding.


Then I noticed the pot containing the skeleton of a calamondin tree that had died a slow death back in the spring. I hadn't tossed it, hoping that perhaps the roots weren't dead and it would make a comeback. I'm a botanical optimist but now, on close examination, I had to admit that the tree seemed to be, in the local idiom, dead as a hammer.

Something clicked.

I've always wanted a bottle tree and now I had the makings for one.

Bottle trees used to be common in the rural South as yard decoration and as protection against evil. There's a fascinating web site HERE with lots of interesting information as well as some great pictures of all sorts of bottle trees and yard glass -- Chilhuly glass even!
 

My little tree is maxed out -- no more branches to stick bottles on. Maybe this is a good thing...

Or maybe this is just the beginning -- I saw a great planter the other day, made out of an old tire and painted bright, shiny yellow . . .
 
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15 comments:

Ms. A said...

So now your little calamondin tree is blooming bottles! Good idea... and great shots!

katy gilmore said...

More commonality! I have always wanted a bottle tree and Yours is perfect. Love that "click" when it happens!

Juliet said...

What a great idea - you have a bluebottle tree!

Kath said...

Love your bottle tree!

Brian Miller said...

pretty cool...they have them at a local cemetary that dates back before the civil war...very neat

June said...

A bottle tree!
Imagine that.

Frances said...

Vicki, those delightful little kittens are now taking on muse status, as you begin to compose a folk art garden. Please do not forget the whirlygigs!

I do very much like the look of your bottle tree. May it ward off all sorts of evil.

xo

NCmountainwoman said...

Loved the information in the link. We are seeing more and more bottle trees. I like yours because it is the "real deal" and not a purchased frame and bottles.

Ellis Vidler said...

Sun shining through blue glass is always lovely. I do like your bottle tree. I also like that you tried to grow a calamondin tree. My sister (in Florida) has one in her yard and sent a box of calamondins. We made LOTS of marmalade--still eating it. It was wonderful on whole wheat toast. Do you have a greenhouse?

Tammy said...

Your bottle tree is very pretty. Glad it all worked out for you, the bottles & the bad kittehs. All my bottles and pretties are packed away for the long foreseeable future. I gave up pretty quick.

Tammy

Vicki Lane said...

We have a small unheated greenhouse on the south side of our house. It's mainly used for wintering over tender plants -- like the calamondin. It had survived about ten years and produced a bit of fruit -- I had visions of marmalade but what we ended up with was gin and tonics with calamondin. Not sure why it died. Maybe it wanted to be a bottle tree.

Vicki Lane said...

Whirlagigs! Yes!!!

jennyfreckles said...

I have never seen nor heard of a bottle tree before. I do, however, have blue glass bottles on my windowsill - does that count? A window box?

Friko said...

No reason to stop at just one thing, is there.

Bottle tree, hm, I wonder . . .

Wayfarin' Stranger said...

We have two neighbors with blue bottle trees. Do you think Blue Bottle Flies are pests of blue bottle trees? Jim