Background

• Sometimes referred to as "spirit trees," bottle trees first arrived in America with African slaves. The bottles were believed to trap evil spirits at night, which were burned up by the sunlight passing through the bottle in the morning. In some cases, the bottles were removed from the trees, the openings plugged, and then set free to float away in a body of water. A dead crape myrtle with cobalt blue milk of magnesia bottles is the most authentic bottle tree, but today a wide variety of materials are used in gardens around the country.
  
  

The Tree

• There are many ways to construct a bottle tree. All you need is a base and something on which to hang the bottles. A dead tree with the branches sawn down to the length of the bottles is common. Bottles can also be placed on the branches of live trees in winter. You can construct your own creative bottle tree from sculptural metal, rebar, coiled wire or copper tubing, metal rods driven into a stump or even nails driven into a pole. A variety of bottle trees are available for purchase through garden art retailers and individual artists.
  
  

The Bottles

• The bottles you use determine the color and light aspects of your bottle tree. While blue bottles are traditional, most wine bottles are clear, dark green, or almost clear with a slight tint. Reuse your own wine bottles and ask friends and family to save them for you. You can use a variety of colors, or stick to one color. Look for bottles with interesting shapes and combine different bottle sizes, if you like a more eclectic look. You can also combine other types of bottles alongside your wine bottles for even more variety.
  
  

Placement

• Placing your wine bottle tree within your garden should take into account the lighting that particular area receives at different times of day. Bottle trees are most striking when seen with sunlight pouring through the bottles; if your bottle tree remains shaded, you really aren't taking advantage of it. If there is no area in your garden that gets sunlight for the majority of the day, consider the time of day you usually are in the garden. If you have your morning coffee on the patio, place your bottle tree for morning sun. If you have afternoon cocktails or garden parties, place it for afternoon sun. Other factors to consider are whether you can see it from inside through the window, whether passersby can enjoy it from the sidewalk and making sure it isn't obscured by vegetation.