Sunday, October 17, 2010

Whimsical garden additions

What do you do
 when you want to have a little garden
around one of your trees,
but the roots are too close
to the top of the ground
to plant anything?

You make an oobos garden!


AND...
what do you do with 5 cases of empty blue wine bottles?

Make blue bottle trees, of course!

My DH is making several of these,
for the next trade days.


Blue bottle tree history.....
used today as interesting garden ornaments
Colorful glass garden art
is on the upswing
as upscale garden shows
(including the Chelsea Flower Show in London)
will prove. 

Blue has long been associated with ghosts, spirits, and
"haints". 
There is even a blue paint
used around windows and doors of cottages
 to repel spirits
called
"haint blue".
"Haint" is from the root word "haunt"
which is most likely from the
 German-French-Middle English word
 "hanter"
which meant to inhabit.


Hollow glass bottles
appeared in Egypt and Mesopotamia
around 1600 B.C.
Soon after that
 tales began to spread
about spirits being caught in the glass bottles
and then morning light destroying them.

Bottle trees have a long tradition of
keeping the bad away
and bringing the good into
your home.

Savor the Day!
Yvonne




 










6 comments:

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Once more I've learned something - I've never heard of an oobos garden before. It's lovely! I've seen the odd bottle tree here, but none of them have been blue (I like the blue one!!)

Mary Helen-Art Saves Lives said...

I love cobalt blue and your bottles and stone sculptures are just beautiful!!! Imagine and Live in peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Unknown said...

Oobos?? Those are neat looking... and 5 cases... wow, I bet that is impressive looking :) Thank you for sharing the history of bottle trees and the "haint blue". Those cobalt(?) blue bottles are wonderful and is one of my favorite colors of blue. Hmmm... there's a particular wine we had gotten in the past that came in similar looking bottles, maybe this winter we'll have to drink more of it so I can get a collection of bottles in that shade of blue!

Caterina Giglio said...

fun post, just perfect for the season! love your creativity!

~*~Patty S said...

delightful post
your garden must be a wonderful place to visit!

Love the rock cairns and am a big fan of blue bottles too ... perfect display you have going on!
oxo

cadi said...

Yay for bottle trees! We used to see them "in the wild" when I lived in Louisiana.

Hope all is going well.