I made mine out of a 4x4 and then drilled holes all up and down it at an angle. First I put wood dowels and they didn't last any time. So then put pieces of steel/rebar in the holes and put the blue bottles on them. Its been this way for 5 years with no problem at all.

Donna in Florida

Here is a link that might be useful: Bottle Tree

Thanks, Donna- I had the same concern about using dowels.

I like your bottle tree. I have one made entirely of rebar that my boss was nice enough to make for me. He unexpectedly said "let's make your bottle tree" I had no time to think about the design, but figured at this point I couldn't be picky! The design is very nice but entirely too big for my small yard, so take that into consideration when making one. Mine has the shape of a Christmas tree , big at the bottom and tapering up. It is about 6 feet tall and holds 25 bottles, it could have well had more branches added making it fuller. The bottom branch is approx 24 inches long therefore the tree is about 4 feet wide! If I had it to do again I think I would rather have one done with the wood in the middle and would definately NOT make the branches so long! Don't get me wrong I love what he did but a repeat performance would be better planned. This tree could be salvaged into a more eye appealing tree by simply adding about 25 more branches. Good luck with your tree, just keep in mind how big a space you are going to put it in, if I had a very large yard mine would be great , as it is I have a very compact yard.

Hi tndaisy~

I knew that several of our GJers have bottle trees, so I did a search and put the link at the bottom of the email for you. I also added the link for our GJ album that Purplemoon keeps for us here....hope these give you ideas and instructions.

http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k302/sangaree_KS/Garden%20Junk%20Inspiration%20Albums/

Here is a link that might be useful: GJ Bottle trees

Here is my Bottle tree, a 10ft 4x4 cemented in, with large nails and blue bottles, with barrel hoops on top. Planted a yellow clematis(hope it takes),at the base...

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:130124}}

Thanks, Marlene, for the link- so many great trees! I had googled bottle tree, and had searched for it here on GW, and did not get so many hits. It seems to've been a popular topic here on GW. Calamity J- your tree is beautiful, too, and yellow clematis should be gorgeous!

Most all of my bottles came from the recycling center- free is good!

I've got to do something with all the blue bottles I've been collecting. There's just toomany choices I can't decide. Love the trees here on this thread.
Kathy