Ah, Osage Orange! I have a memory. My Grandmother, my father’s mother, had one growing in her back yard. As a child, I was fascinated by the yellow/green fruit. At that time it reminded me what the moon might have look like before the famous moon walk on July 21, 1969!
I always thought the smell of a fresh osage orange was delightfully pleasant until it rotted. Now when I see an osage orange I always think of my grandmother.
Many thanks for the great memories and your own stories.
Ceci Brown
Gloucester, VA
What an intriguing subject -Wendy’s “football” sized fruit intrigued me and made them seem positively dangerous – but disappointingly Google tells me they are only 6″ diameter ! I can’t imagine Wendy exaggerating so I’m sure they must grow larger ????
I have never seen an OSAGE Orange tree, hedge or fruit but I like the description of the latter as “Horse High, Bull Strong and Hog Tight”. We use Hawthorn, sometimes called Thorn apple (Crategus monogyna) for hedges of this prickly density – but they need to be well maintained by regular pruning,
Brian
Since hedge apple is so useful,does anyone have a use for honey locust? As I recall, the genus is Gletidista. Cindy Haeffner was quite amused when I walked into a branch on one while I was digging daffodil bulbs- she reminded me that I said I liked to have a few around the place. The thorns are only about three inches on the branches – on the trunk they get much larger…
On the subject of mayapples- I once purchased one purporting to have pink flowers- one of many things which have not lived here (It is illegal to dig roadside wildflowers here, but I have several clumps in the hayfield, so I do not need any white flowering mayapples!)
John Beck
The size they list is an average. I’ve found ones the size of a basketball. Probably has something to do with soil fertility and how much rain we got that year. And sometimes they grow together, making a huge, mis-shapen lump!
I attended a security meeting one time where the private security companies had displays set up for us. I entered the room and my associate had already been there and thought he would stump me with the Osage Orange. He asked if I knew what it was and I said “Osage Orange”. His chin dropped but the Company Reps jumped forward and asked, “Do you know where some grow and can we get some for the seeds?” I did know but when I inquired about the trees they had cut them down and hauled the thorny things away.
I picked up some under one of their trees and got too close to the thorns and got spiked! The puncture makes for a nice sore spot for a long time.
The security folks wanted to grow off these seeds and use the trees for security on steep banks around a facility. They had found them hog tight too!
Betty
I’m not sure whether our micro-bursts made the news, but we have been out of power (hence with no water since we are on a well) since about 9 AM yesterday. They say we may have power by 5:45 AM, that 90 % of those still out will be back with power by Friday and 100% by Sunday.
When walking around to survey the damage I found a 2 inch osage orange fruit on the ground and snapped his pic. But I can’t reduce the size of the pic here at Starbuck’s, so you’ll have to wait. I’m 100 % sure I’ll have it posted by Sunday.
George
George,
Hope your power comes back on.
All this discussion of osage orange came with a toss-in of Hackberry reminds me that when I was 14 years old in Southern Arkansas. I was helping my father that summer cut Hackberry billets for Crossett Lumber Company in the creek bottom near a large cattle farm/ranch. I had just gotten into a yellow-jacket nest under one Hackberry tree and was covered with them. While I was trying to dispose of the yellow jackets (you have to pick them off with your fingers and crush them like cherries) I missed all the commotion around me. When I came back to my senses, I realized I was standing in the middle of a large herd of red Santa Gretrudis cattle with a big bull standing about a arms length from me shanking his head and looking down at me. Those cattle are a Brahma/red polled cross, breed on the King Ranch in Texas and stand as tall as a horse. I did the only thing that a farm boy knew to do in that situation. I jumped into the air yelling at the top of my lungs and waving my arms and hands. That stampeded the cattle away from me (and almost trampled my father).
Anyway, that’s my memory of Hackberry. Never went back to those woods.
Clay
Well, as I sit in Starbucks, preparing to use their wi-fi to send this and other emails, Mary called to say that the power is just on. She takes credit, having gone to the health club for a shower.
Anyway, here’s the baby osage orange I found after the storm. It is just like an adult, only it has those little brown whiskers of former petals, I presume.
George:
As you’ve undoubtedly considered, get a generator. My 3500 watt runs the well and everything essential. Everyone here got one after the 2004 ice storm. My mother (80) has an automatic natural gas powered one, and many out around me have propane driven systems.
I suggest a portable, gasoline-powered version however. Here’s why: When one pulls it out, makes all the connections and gets it fired up, the grid miraculously comes back online within minutes! :)
Drew
Home generators are very common here in NE Calif. Many of the seasonal people have them set up to be automatic, but that cost quite a few thousand. We have a big China Diesel on a trailer type setup and a smaller, more portable one. So, depending on the season, and the expected length of the power outage, we can choose accordingly.
Osage tree taken Sept 1996 Fort Harrod Kentucky.