The skies have been a little grey here in Texas the last few days (it's like real winter, which we're sure you folks north of us know all too well), and that leaves us all pining for a burst of color. Growing up, my mother collected antique cobalt bottles and placed them on the branches of a small, leafless tree along the driveway. We always liked the way the bright blue contrasted with the grey wintry skies, and glinted when the sun came out.
So we were reminded of childhood when we saw this collection of bottle trees from Fondren, Mississippi...
The bottle trees from the photo live in Fondren, where the motto is "Keep Fondren Funky". Not only does this bring a bright burst of festive color to the bleak midwinter; we think this is a great way to get a little life out of your recycling before it goes. Some of the trees are not live plants, but welded re-bar. What a fun garden accessory.
(And actually, we love all the funky decor in Fondren--those bright house colors, endless creative reuse for garden containers and Christmas trees, and loads of art.)
But we're wondering, too--are bottle trees a mostly southern thing (we'd call them folk art)? Do you northerners see things like this in your neighborhoods?
Photos by Felder Rushing.
how duchampian!
bottle trees/racks of the welded kind were not originally meant to be decorative. they were functionally created to dry out bottles that had been washed for re-use (not just another stop before being trashed).
that said, I think they're fun in the right atmosphere, like an artsy neighborhood with interesting gardens and architecture. not so much in more mundane suburbs. perhaps a fun urban christmas tree?
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Bottle Trees are an African Diaspora tradition, with roots in the Kongo religion. They are meant to protect homes from evil spirits. They are beautiful, and even more so when their history is understood. One reference for this practice is in the book Flash of the Spirit (1983) by Robert Ferris Thompson (pp. 142-45, 47).
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