What, the?

Yes, this looks like something the recycle truck forgot-- but it's my new bottle tree. The origin of bottle trees goes way back to when hollow bottles were first made, about 3500 BC in northern Africa. People believed that spirits could live in bottles, probably because of the sound wind makes blowing over the opening. This led to the idea of bottle "imps." Remember Aladdin and his lamp?

At some point folks started using glass bottles to capture and repel evil spirits. The plan was that spirits would be lured into the opening at night and then destroyed when morning light hit them. Like bad dreams. African slaves eventually brought the idea to America, and I guess bottle trees have been placed in entryways in the deep South for a long time. Whew! That's heavy stuff for what's considered just an interesting garden ornament now.

Blue bottles have always been considered the "best" choice for bottle trees. Who knows why, except that blue is a universally relaxing, calming color. Here's a picture of a bottle tree that makes mine look downright puny:

Northern European immigrants like the Germans and Irish brought their own garden superstitions to America. Those innocent looking balls you see everywhere were once called "witch balls." The shiny surface supposedly repelled witches and the opening at the bottom was used to capture them.

I haven't emptied the witches out of this one lately-- yikes. One more garden chore on the list.

And speaking of early American superstitions, we can't forget the Pennsylvania Dutch who painted their hex signs on houses and barns. I remember seeing old faded ones around farms when I was a kid in Bucks County. Now hex signs have become commercialized for the tourist market and are considered just for decoration. Like bottle trees and gazing balls. Here's an postcard from the 1960's of an old fellow selling hex signs: