Charlottesville Real Estate News

By GWENDOLYN BOUNDS

It's the ultimate in low-maintenance landscaping: a tree that blooms all year long, needs no water or pruning and never dies.

Sales of man-made "bottle trees" are flourishing among homeowners wanting something more interesting in the garden than a birdbath or gnome. Styles vary, but most trees are crafted from steel with branches capped by colorful empty bottles.

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Jerry Swanson

Owners of bottle trees are spreading the word. Some are giving them as Christmas gifts, while others order them for housewarming gifts. Shown here is a tree from bottletreecreations.com.

The trees have long been a fixture of rural Southern yards and in Caribbean island communities, where property owners commonly decorate real—but dead—trees with bottles.

The manufactured versions, which can be short or tall, are popping up everywhere from New York to Alaska. Many are hand-crafted by people who are into welding and are sold on websites such as thebottletreeman.com and bottletreecreations.com. Gardener's Supply Co. says bottle trees made in India are one of its top sellers in garden decor, a category that has been growing 15% annually, the company says.

"Bottle trees are the modern pink flamingo," says Felder Rushing, a garden author in Jackson, Miss., who is writing a book about the trees. "People are bored of the plantings we have. And you can only have so many naked goddess statues out there."

Bottle trees have their shortcomings. They can blow over if they aren't anchored well. And bottles must be positioned carefully on branches so they don't collect rain. And the trees aren't necessarily pest-resistant: "You'll get caterpillars going inside the bottles to make cocoons," says Jerry Swanson of Princeton, Wis., whose bottle trees are now standing in 34 states.

Some landscape architects wish the bottle tree trend would stay where its roots are.

"They have their place in Southern culture, but usually they risk looking totally tacky and like someone's leftover party binge," says Susan Cohan, a residential landscape designer in Chatham, N.J. "It's a country gardeners' thing. Not something I'd ever want or recommend for my clients."

Others liken the manufactured versions to fake Christmas trees. "There's something soulless about buying them over the Internet," says Margie Grace, principal of Grace Design Associates Inc. in Santa Barbara, Calif., who adds, "there is room for folk art, but this is faux art." For non-Southerners to erect a bottle tree can seem inauthentic, she says.