What Is A Bottle Tree

Bottle Trees

Originally meant to trap bad spirits, bottle trees arrived in the U.S. with the African slave trade and first took root in the South. Now it's a popular art form, a national phenomenon that's showing up at garden shows, craft fairs and farmers markets. Garden writer and photographer Felder Rushing has encountered thousands of bottle trees and other glass garden art in his travels across America and around the world. In BOTTLE TREES he presents 60 of his favorites, from the backyards of Mississippi to the Chelsea Flower Show to the glass fantasies of Dale Chihuly. With humor and affection he tells the stories behind the photographs: the history and lore of bottle trees and glass sculpture, and the inspired people who make them.

Arkansas Backstories, Volume Two

Like its companion book, this second volume of Arkansas Backstories will amaze even the most serious students of the state with surprising insights. How many people are aware that a world-class yodeler from Zinc ran against John F. Kennedy in 1960 for the top spot on the national Democratic ticket, or that an African-American born in Little Rock campaigned for the Presidency nearly 70 years before Congressman Shirley Chisholm made her historic run? Or that bands of blood-thirsty pirates once lurked in the bayous and backwaters of eastern Arkansas, preying on unsuspecting Mississippi River travelers? Likewise, how many readers will recognize the fact that an English botanist who spent months investigating Arkansas's flora in the early nineteenth century has been described as the worst explorer in history? That Fort Smith hosted the world's first international UFO conference? Or that the Nielsen rating system has a direct connection to the state as does Tony Bennett's signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"? Such tidbits are among the unexpected elements that make the Natural State so tantalizing. Written in an informal, conversational style and nicely illustrated, Arkansas Backstories Volume Two will be a wonderful addition to the libraries of Arkansans, expats, and anyone else interested in one of America's most fascinating states.

The Bottlebrush Tree