- Author: Sharon L. Rico
You use a glass mirror to see your face:
You use works of art to see your soul.
By: George Bernard Shaw
Having a love affair with stained glass, I am fascinated by bottle trees. Although I do not have one in our garden (yet), I think about creating one and about the perfect place to put it. They are whimsical, beautiful and great art to add to a garden. Maybe the best part for the non-gardener is the fact they do not require water, pruning or fertilizer, do not die and will be in full bloom until removed. Bottle trees originated in Africa in the 9th century.
There actually is a living tropical tree (Brachychiton), native to Australia, called a bottle tree. It is small at the top and bottom, and fat in the middle, hence the name. The bottle trees in this blog are the garden variety of art.
‘Yard art' bottle trees that I have seen have been in friends' gardens, magazines, and books. Most of these are the metal tree-shaped forms with upright arms that hold colored bottles. Even a dead tree could be used as a bottle tree with some judicious pruning. And rebar placed individually in the soil (either one or many) with a bottle placed on the ends will create a simple bottle tree. Some are decorated with an assortment of colored bottles; some a collection of just one color (often cobalt blue) bottles.
There are high-end bottle trees completed by master glass artists located in arboretums, museums, and some magical places such as Elmer Longs “Bottle Tree Ranch” in the Mojave Desert, off historic highway 66. The exciting Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum in Seattle is a place not to miss if you re traveling to Washington. At the Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, NC., the “Minnie Evans Sculpture Garden Bottle House”, created by artist Virginia Wright-Frierson is spectacular.
Glass designers make objects that are essentially non-utilitarian; they make beautiful artwork because they find them pleasing to the eye and the soul. The San Francisco Flower Show held last March had several displays designed around the use of colored glass. Located indoors, the displays were dazzling with light bouncing throughout the garden.
Yes, my collection of cobalt bottles has begun. I expect this will take some time. The perfect location is outside my window, somewhere nearby in the garden.
![Glass flower. (photos by Sharon Rico) Glass flower. (photos by Sharon Rico)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/USS/blogfiles/23084.jpg)
![Glass globe. Glass globe.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/USS/blogfiles/23085.jpg)
![The bottle tree. The bottle tree.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/USS/blogfiles/23086.jpg)