How about a little fun with bottles today? No! I am not talking bottles full of spirits so please give up that thought! The bottles I will share and have fun with are empty bottles poised in a garden so as to bring lots of delight to all who see-no artificial 'celebratory' spirits required to have fun!
Last Thursday I had the pleasure of traveling all the way to Jackson Tennessee to participate in the University of Tennessee's Summer Celebration in honor of gardening. UT Jackson is a research facility that trials many plants. Some of the plants are displayed in lovely gardens such as the one above. All plants are labeled and displayed in a beautiful way so as to delight onlookers and make us all go running for our cameras, pens, and paper so as to take notes.
What distinguishes UT Jackson gardens from perhaps some other gardens are all of the lovely adornments. Can you say junk? Junk is right up my alley and I happen to think junk in the right situation is a win-win scenario for all. I mean think about it. This old boxspring (I have several on my property thanks to thoughtless people who prefer to dump on others' property) was saved from the landfill and is now used to bring a smile to onlookers faces. Not to mention it is a great trellis for vines to grow upon. Now if I could only secure those boxsprings on my land from the years of weeds growing up through them-but that is another story. Don't you love the bottles attached to the posts holding up this boxspring? I have also seen boxsprings like this displayed horizontally hanging from say a gazebo. Woven into the springs will be miniature lights so as to give a starry effect to wherever the boxspring is hung. It is a delightful sight!
Now these gears are too much fun in the garden. For some reason almost everyone is drawn to circles in life and in nature. The endlessness of them is tempered by the pointed triangle they are displayed upon. What a nice focal point!
This has to be one of my favorite displays. It was quite different than the usual bottle tree. Here we have wine bottles strung upon cables which are then hung between saw blades that were secured to a cental 4"x4". Sweet!
As my dear friend (Irene) and I walked around we kept finding really neat displays. This garden area near the buildings was one you really had to look at in order to see all of the neat bottle art in it. I will show close ups of the 'fireflies' hanging in the tree and dragonflies taking flight on a later post. You will be amazed at them. I know I was and plan to make some very own fireflies and dragonflies of my own.
I'll finish this post with a picture of my friend Irene and I. (I am the white haired lady on the left). This is the second year for Irene and I traveling to Summer Celebration together and we had a great time and bought lots of super good cultivars and hard to find plants. We swap years for driving and I tell you the drive with a friend makes the time pass by so much more quickly. We are standing in front of the grand 'bottle wall' at the gardens. There is a close up of the bottles in the first picture of this post. This display was probably one of the largest in the gardens and certainly the most grand during this 'Year of the Bottles'.....
in the garden....
Look for a part II to this trip later this week.
It is good to see that people are getting more original with their "bottles".
ReplyDeleteReally fun stuff! What an interesting display (you know me and blue bottles)! Just wish I could find myself some more....
ReplyDeleteWhat great bottle displays. I can hardly wait to see the post about the dragonflies and the fireflies. :-)
ReplyDeleteLove and hugs to you and continue having summer fun ~ FlowerLady
I like blue bottles also. So enjoyed the tour. I felt I was there with you. Looking forward to next post.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun with all those bottles...I love, love, love that bottle wall.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many bottles are in all the displays! Great photo of you and Irene at the end. I've never seen old bed springs used as a trellis before. Looks good.
ReplyDeleteI love the last photo! Not only because you and your friend look great in it, but the bottle wall is just beautiful. It's so much fun to see displays like this--who would have thought to use old boxsprings in such a clever way?
ReplyDeleteI am captivated by the old springs every time I go into Miss Lucille's and see them! As a child, I would play under my grandmothers old Cannon Ball Bed. I would use the springs as holding cells for my little treasures (toys). So the old springs hold a great memory to me.... I wonder who drank all that wine? Ha, am sure they buy the bottles unused at a bottle supplier but to think of someone drinking that much wine to create this art, well, Cheers!
ReplyDelete