Bottle Trees: ...and the Whimsical Art of Garden Glass

by Felder Rushing

Originally meant to trap bad spirits, bottle trees arrived in the U.S. with the African slave trade and first took root in the South. Now it's a popular art form, a national phenomenon that's showing up at garden shows, craft fairs and farmers markets. Garden writer and photographer Felder Rushing has encountered thousands of bottle trees and other glass garden art in his travels across America and around the world. In BOTTLE TREES he presents 60 of his favorites, from the backyards of Mississippi to the Chelsea Flower Show to the glass fantasies of Dale Chihuly. With humor and affection he tells the stories behind the the history and lore of bottle trees and glass sculpture, and the inspired people who make them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Felder Rushing is a 10th-generation American gardener whose pioneer ancestors settled across the Southeast, bringing many plants with them. Rushing's overstuffed, quirky cottage garden has been featured in many TV programs and magazines (including a cover of Southern Living), and includes a huge variety of weather-hardy plants along with a collection of folk art. There is no turfgrass, just plants, yard art, and "people places."

The author or co-author of 15 gardening books (including several national award winners) and former Extension Service urban horticulture specialist has written thousands of gardening columns in syndicated newspapers, and has had hundreds of articles and photographs published in regional and national garden magazines, including Garden Design, Horticulture, Landscape Architecture, Better Homes and Gardens, Fine Gardening, Organic Gardening, and the National Geographic. He has hosted a television program that was shown across the South, and appeared many times on other TV garden programs. Felder currently cohosts a call-in garden program over public radio with his longtime friend Dr. Dirt called The Gestalt Gardener.

Rushing has served many years as a distinctly non-stuffy board member of the American Horticulture Society, national director of the Garden Writers Association, and member of the National Youth Gardening Committee. Felder gives over a hundred lectures a year, coast to coast at flower shows, horticultural and plant society meetings, and Master Gardener conferences. Believing that too many would-be gardeners are intimidated by a crush of "how-to" experts ("We are daunted, not dumb," he says), Felder uses an offbeat, "down home" approach rife with humorous anecdotes and garden-irreverent metaphors, zany observations, and stunning photography and to help gardeners get past the "stinkin' rules" of horticulture.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We are simply holding glass up to the light, where it can sing . . ." ~ Jenny Pickford, artist



Once upon a time, it was believed that spirits lived in containers. (You've no doubt heard of the genie in the lamp.) It was also thought that malevolent ghosts could be lured into bottles placed in doorways and thus kept from entering the home. Gradually, this tradition crossed continents and evolved into "yard art" which, in addition to bottle trees, includes stained glass, gazing globes and witch balls.

Rushing's small book is mostly photographs - GORGEOUS PHOTOGRAPHS!
He includes a few pages about the history of glass art in the garden and info about the artists, both amateur AND professional, whose work sparkles upon the pages.







Though considered tacky by some, this form of outsider art adds unfading color to the landscape in any season. Bottle trees look spectacular covered with frost. snow and Christmas lights. They're also surprisingly durable.

I should know - I have two bottle trees and one "bottle bush." I'll be adding more, but since I don't drink much, it takes a while to collect the supplies. I live for recycling day when my neighbors discard untold treasure by the curbside.

Yeah, I suppose I am the neighborhood oddball. Why do you ask?

You can see one of my trees in the right hand corner of this photo - https://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/...

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a whimsical and lovely look at the use of glass art in gardens. I enjoyed the glass art at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, but also love the homemade bottle trees in this book. I have to start a bottle collection to go on my own bottle tree!!

[Erin Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love all things Felder Rushing puts out. He loves plants with all he has, and it comes through in his books. This short book honors glass art in gardens. It contains a number of pictures of bottle trees and other whimsical glass ornaments. I got some great ideas for my yard. It takes about 15 minutes to read the whole book, so no big investment of time if you don't find something you want to emulate.

[Nancy Mulvany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Since I have a bottle tree

[Bayou des Cannes Cajun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tiny book bursting with wonderful photos of fantastic southern folk art. Inspired my daughters and I to begin the lofty process of a wine bottle (bottom) path edging as well as a bottle tree.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun picture book of bottle trees in England and US gardens. Glass sculpture and witch balls are also included plus a little history about garden trees and garden balls origins.