Birds and Bees, and Blue Bottle Trees
by Stephie McCarthy • January 13, 2013 • Garden Color, Glass projects •
Recycling … it’s one of the many ways gardeners care for the environment and every once in a while, turns out to be entertainment in itself.
~ Photo of blue bottle tree by Nancy K. Meyers ~
Recycling leads to the occasional surplus of craft materials for the do-it-yourselfer. And … if you’re very lucky … something fun for your garden like blue bottle trees. Bright blue ornaments attract birds and bees and lots of curiosity … and a quick search on the Internet shows blue bottle tree mania is “sprouting up” around the world.
Top row, results of Google search; bottom row blue bottle art by Nancy K. Meyers.
Nancy K. Meyers of Iowa makes blue bottle art from recycled glass she buys for 5¢ each at her neighborhood grocery store. The bases are made from recycled rebar, lighting rods, even surplus curtain rods … the garden hides most of the “stems,” she explains, but the details on the rebar are especially eye catching with lots of texture. Blue bottles can also be placed on trees and shrub limbs, or posts with dowels inserted. Wiring bottles so that they dangle upside-down is another way to use the “fruits” of blue bottle recycling.
Above: blue bottles wired between the gaps in split-rail fence, by Jeanne Sammons.
Photo searches on the Internet also show how adaptable blue bottle trees are to many different climates … and how sturdy they are in cold weather, as long as they have some protection from high winds, and ice does not form inside of them.
More blue bottle trees from a Google search top row; directly above, Sue Gerdes’ blue bottle tree growing in South Dakota, where it reflects the blues of sky and snow.
Kirk Willis shows his blue bottle tree in the snow, below left; Annie Grossart-Stein’s green bottle tree, in the photo below right, filled with fairy lights for enchanted evenings.
Whatever color, shape, or size of your bottle tree, you will find them hardy specimens for flea market gardens that will give years of sparkle, animation, and delight as they reflect sun and moonlight.
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More blue bottle trees from a Google search top row; below left, Sue Gerdes puts her blue bottle collections at a height that makes them look like blue fruit; more blue bottles “sprout” in Nancy K. Meyers’ garden.
How to start a blue bottle tree:
Where to find materials: Blue bottles turn up (when you start looking for them) in thrift shops, flea markets, yard sales, and recycling centers. You can also buy blue bottles with products like beer, wine, or mineral water. Specific manufacturers are Bud Light Platinum Beer, Skyy Vodka, Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry, Arizona Tea (salvage only as flavors are sometimes discontinued)—and antique Milk of Magnesia bottles still show up now and again. Nancy K. Meyers, a blue bottle artist, gets hers from a grocery store in Iowa for 5¢ each. Also, restaurants are another great outlet for empty bottles for recycling.
The “tree” part of your project can be anything sturdy and a mostly permanent of a fixture in the landscape. Occasionally, folks will secure the base of a tree with concrete.
Labels: Easy enough to soak and scrape off if they are paper, but if the label is part of the surface of the bottle, it will be baked on and permanent. Luckily many of these are pretty enough for most projects.
Here’s how folks in our Flea Market Gardening community capitalize on inexpensive Bud Light Beer bottles and use the surplus beverage to make bread! (By the way it’s also great for conditioning your hair!)
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Loved your story Stephie about blue bottles in the garden. Hope others will be inspired to try this too, it is so much fun. Great to see what everyone else is doing, too. Thanks
Nancy, I have been so inspired by your bottle displays. I noticed on one you used rebar (near pampas grass which sways in the wind). My question is, does the rebar let bottles sway slightly also, or do the stay stationary in the way they are bent? I’ve been planning a cobalt blue bottle tree for the past couple of years just because of Flea Market Gardening. I have look at many manufacturered ones, and there is a man in our county who welds them. However, I believe I like the rebar ones which are not connected the best. Especially in a clump of grass.
Thank you Jeanne, for telling me how to post. I was reversing my name and email before and it wouldn’t post that way.
The long rods are weld together at the bottom in a hollow tube. They sway ever so slightly in the wind. In all the years, I have only lost one bottle to breakage. Hope this helps.
I made a blue bottle tree a few years ago and love it. I also have a green one.
I loved the lights in the bottles TYFS
I love the title, it made me smile. The pictures were inspiring and I’m glad you gave us some pointers. I’ve been putting bottles and vases in my flower beds the last few years, but I’m hopeing to make a couple bottle trees before spring. Thanks for the inspiration.
Enjoyed your article, Stephie! Lots of great ideas here!! I so enjoy the sunshine & reflections of the blue bottles & plan to edge a whiskey barrel with Platinum Bud ones in the Spring. Those fairy lights in Annie’s green bottles are just delightful!!! Nancy has come up with so many wonderful ideas in her ‘Blue Heaven!’ Kirk’s blue bottle tree in the snow is just beautiful! Thanks, Stephie McCarthy, for sharing!
Thanks for such a lovely article. This is something I have planned for a couple of years, and your article out wheels under my feet. Since I am the caregiver for my 98-yr-old father, I cannot get out enough to find the lovely bottles. So I went to my old standby, ebay, and ordered 15 beer bottles. With shipping it was only $3 each, and that’s really convenient for me. Will install my bottles by spring, but right now I’m running a race with the beauiful black capped chickadees. I’m building houses that will open for cleaning, and the right size to put a soup can or some other can for them to excavate their nest in. Will put cedar chips both in and around the can, so they can excavate happily. Also will fill a suet feeder with either rabbit fur or antique mink fur that I’ve bought at antique shops. We have lots of chickadees at our feeder and I want them to nest in dad’s yard. Even though they don’t build their nests until April, they pick out their nesting sight in late January and early February. I have to rush.
Just installed a bottle tree at the daughter’s house and another one at the grandgirl’s apartment this morning. I am doing my part to make sure the “forrest” does not die out !!!