… and now it’s a bottle tree bean support! One of the lilac bushes didn’t survive the winter and even though I talked nicely to it, trimmed off some broken bits it still didn’t give off any buds. So a couple of weeks ago I decided to trim it right back and try to use the trunk and branches for something else. I’ve seen bottle trees at various sites on the internet so wondered if it could be converted into one of those. But then I needed to find a place for the pole beans to climb up … so now it is a bean and bottle tree!
Here is the lilac bush last year when I added a whimsical little gnome home with its own ladder entrance.
It was trimmed to leave most of the branches so that a collection of blue and green bottles could be slid over them. I’ve still got to remove some labels from a few.
The gnome home and ladder are still there and I’ve also added a twirler, wind chime and lantern. I”m sure this is they type of garden art that I’ll be tinkering with all season long.
The barrel is a found item from many years ago and I painted it to look like a little gnome or fairy house. It just needs some finishing touches added. I’m also using a couple of old wooden crates for the bean pots to rest on.
At the base of the bottle tree I’ve got 3 tubs of pole beans and I’m hoping they will grow and twine up around the branches. I’ll be documenting the growth over the season and sharing in another post.
Have you made some garden whimsy lately?
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