“Poor man’s” stained glass.

As a little boy in the 1940s, as I regularly rode my horse or bicycle down a rural East Texas dirt road, I would often see a lady working in her front yard, which was void of grass. Sometimes I would see her working with a little hoe to remove each grass sprig that tried to set up residence in her yard.

In addition to her no grass yard, my attention was always drawn to what appeared to be a dead tree, protruding from the ground with each limb ending in blue or green colored bottles shimmering in the sunlight. This seemed odd to me, so one day I asked my Grannie Powell, “Why did Mrs. Taylor have bottles stuck on her tree in her front yard?” She answered, “That’s what you call a bottle tree and Mrs. Taylor believes her bottle tree keeps evil sprits from coming to her house.

I immediately asked, “How do they do that?”

Grannie answered, “I think she believes evil spirits are lured away from her house and into the colored bottles on the tree, and once they are on the inside of the bottle they cannot get out.”

Still perplexed about this interesting tree, I asked one of my schoolteachers about the unusual bottle tree. She said, “Jim, don’t worry about it. That tree is just a poor man’s stained glass.”

The bottle tree is slowly becoming common in East Texas gardens. Several have appeared in gardens featured in past Smith County Master Garden Tour of Gardens. In fact, I enjoyed having a bottle at my log cabin.

Bottle trees are created by using brightly colored bottles placed upside down on the end of tree branches (like crepe myrtles) or in some recent cases a metal frame designed to hold bottles.

Research indicates that the centuries-old custom of having bottle trees originated on the West Coast of Africa and Africans brought the custom to America. Our bottle trees of today became popular in the southern United States from South Carolina to eastern Texas.

In addition to Mrs. Taylor’s belief about the bottle tree, some believe that these unusual trees make flowers bloom, bring rain and even bring luck to the home’s owner.

The bottle tree has evolved to become an important component in a variety of garden designs. Complete bottle trees including the metal tree and the bottles, can be purchased separately on the internet. But it is also fun to secure your own various colored bottles at garage sales, flea markets and antique malls. Blue and green beer and wine bottles are great choices too. You will be pleased to how a colorful bottle tree can add a bit of whimsy and color to your garden.