Bottle tree.. Finally!!

Day 3 of landscaping progress.. Today's task.. My bottle tree... After much research and debate as to the wood bases rotting over time we decided to give it a go and see. The tree we hauled back from the river last w/e has such a great shape it will be perfect to make our first tree out of.

Do you know the history of the bottle tree? more info.. check out this and this. I loved them from seeing my first one in Texas 6 years ago at the Rumel's home we stayed at. I love blue glass and I love tress.. Great combo and I was set on making one or more and the ranch was the perfect place. I had it put in the landscape blueprint 4 years ago and today it will be started!

Step one.. Get the tree base firmly set in the ground. We hand dug the existing hole we dug with tree spade yesterday out a bit more then set in the driftwood tree and filled it in well with 1" non crushed gravel. We are hoping this not only gives strength to the case but a good drainage area to help slow down any rot. We topped it with the remaining mulch/top soil mix hoping this too will add strength.

The other half of the tree was the test dummy. Holes were drilled and rebar pounded in then the bottles added.. This was a perfect visual and allowed us to tweak our plans. But now it was time to give it a go on the real one. The plan changed as we went. Sheldon was given free rein of his artistic side to placement and angle. Britt helped for a very short time helping cut of the wine bottle sealing collars but another brief squall sent us inside.

 bottles placed for a visual as holes are drilled

 I started soaking in the sink but came up with a better idea with the round feed tub, easiest labels to remove are Dr Zen Zen with Kabinett being the worst

check out the variety of beverages that comes in blue glass bottles.. wine of course, vodka, sherry, tequila, prosecco, beer to name the ones I scored

Great news, my kijiji ad had interest on the MCM dresser and she plans to come get it. I sent Britt off to walk the dogs and open the gate, thanks B. She then got ready to head to the city with Josh. I worked on peeling labels off the bottles, now this is a task!! Pretty sure I will have some sort of hantavirus bug after this! By the end my system was working pretty well and in my bottle stash I see I have enough for another tree... yay!!

The late afternoon weather which was 25 now continued to be all over from stormy to sunny with thunder and wind rolling thru on and off. There was a perfect break in it for the customer's arrival around 3 to pick up the dresser. Josh picked up Britt at the same time they were loading up and soon all were off.

Back to the endless label removal.. Soak, peel, scratch, scrub rinse repeat! Sheldon was nearing the end of his rebar supply but I was sure I saw more around the yard. Upon searching under the storage trailer I found 40 more feet, yeah! This kept him is business drilling holes and hammering the cut rebar pieces in.

As the clean bottles were ready. I put them on the tree like a drying rack. So many cool blue glass bottles, thank you to all the friends, family and Calgary stranger Jack who sacrificed your livers to help me create my blue bottle tree vision, I LOVE it!!

getting closer

 pool water all changed and fresh ;)

Britt and Josh were back around 7:30 and it was not long before another rain storm,this one with a bit of hail too rolled thru. Time to call it a bottle tree creation day end.. We visited while Sheldon grilled burgers then they were off to play ping pong, pool and watch movies while we ate, scrubbed up and relaxed our tired bodies. What a successful day yet again and one more to go!

 rain and hail during sunshine.. crazy

days end progress.. actually 3 days worth shown in one picture

Thunder continued to roll though the night, Josh was off before midnight but a lightening show began about then and unleashed a torrent of heavy rain about 12:20. The sky was lit up and the rains came down, one crack of thunder sounded like it hit right outside. Coco of course could not contain her fear leaving Britt cleaning carpet before going to bed.. even though she was asked to kennel her. This is not a news flash B, this is every thunderstorm behavior.. for 12 years ;)