One of my favorite fall scents is the clean, somewhat citrus scent of the Osage Orange. I’m also quite fond of their appearance and whenever I have any available, I place them around my home in large bowls and cluster them in groups with pumpkins and gourds.
I’m forced to import the large, eerie green globes from Nebraska, on fall trips to the Midwest to visit my family. On one memorable occasion, my sister and I climbed on top of the roof of a minivan and tried jumping high enough to pick the fruits from a mature tree. It was not an entirely successful maneuver, as the tree was huge and we were taking turns juggling her infant son at the same time.
The following are some of the things I’ve learned in my 20 year quest to bring Osage Oranges to Connecticut.
1. It is much easier to pick the fruits up off the ground than it is to pick them off of the tree. 🙂
2. Even if you spend enough to mail them by Priority Mail, Osage Oranges will grow moldy when shut up in a box and shipped from the Midwest to the East Coast.
3. Osage Oranges are very dense and heavy. An important fact to remember when stuffing as many as possible into your carry on luggage!
4. When you order Osage Orange trees from a nursery, the only ones you can buy are the size of a #2 pencil.
5. Osage Orange trees also have thorns!!!
6. Be really, really careful when zipping past an Osage Orange tree while riding on a lawn tractor!!! (reread point #5)
7. When waiting for your Osage Oranges to be really ripe, prior to harvesting the seeds, beware of fruit flies.
8. Tossing ripe Osage Oranges onto the ground in likely looking locations and waiting for nature to take it’s course, does not result in an Osage forest…
Originally Osage Orange trees were found in the Red River valley in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas, also the home of the Osage tribe (and the source of one of the many common names for this tree). Coincidentally this is also the area where my family lived for several generations.
Before the invention of barbed wire, many thousands of miles of hedges were created in the plains states, by planting young Osage trees closely together. After barbed wire made hedge fences outmoded, the wood from the Osage trees was used for fence posts. The wood will last for decades in the ground without rotting or suffering from insect damage. Bow makers have long prized the wood for crafting superior weapons. Osage trees also make effective windbreaks. And last, but not least, my personal favorite is that the sawdust from these trees can be used to dye fabrics!
I currently have a rather long row of Osage trees planted parallel to one of my property lines. Some of the trees have been in the ground for about fifteen years, and the rest are a bit younger (due to several re-plantings to replace trees that died during the winters or wound up being deer snacks). I’ve read that the only trees you can purchase, are the thorned variety. I’ve also read that Osage trees come in male and female and that both have thorns, while only the females bear fruit. Apparently it is impossible to tell the sex of the trees until they reach the fruiting age of ten.
So far all I’ve got are thorns. In fact I have enough thorns to ring Sleeping Beauty’s castle with an impenetrable hedge of thorns!
This year, I’ve decided to try growing some Osage trees from seed to add to my thorn garden. I’ve harvested the seeds and planted them in pots, now we’ll just have to wait and see. I’ve also got a back up stash of seeds, just in case worse comes to worse.
I know you’ll be happy to hear that Osage Oranges aren’t my only tree obsession. I also have a long running love affair with quince trees, but that is a story for another time…
I was noticing the wooden box in the background of your picture and was wondering what that box was. I have a box similar to that …I can send you a picture if you like..I have been trying for years to find out what it was used for. Your dolls are gorgeous!!! Truly, truly a labor of love. What a tribute to Izanna Walker. I have spent hours pouring over your pages and am looking forward to seeing your sisters site as well. You have inspired me and have gotten my creative juices going again…thank you!!!
The “box’ in the background of the quince photo is one corner of a medium size, grain painted, dome lidded wooden trunk. The trunk measures about 30 x 14 x 14 inches and has iron hinges, handles, lock. I’d love to see a photo of your box, email it to paula@asweetremembrance.com.
Thank you, what a nice thing to say! It’s always nice to hear that someone appreciates my Izannahs.
My sister doesn’t currently have a site, but I have three blogs as well as a website – http://www.izannahwalker.com – my blog all about Izannah Walker dolls; hers, mine, related topics and historical sewing tidbits, http://www.spuncottonornaments.com – my spun cotton ornament blog – my ornaments, antique ornaments, reference books and more, http://www.paulawalton.com – this blog, mainly about 18th century home keeping, gardening, open hearth cooking and anything else that doesn’t quite fit into the other blogs :), and my actual retail website http://www.asweetremembrance.com . A bit confusing???? My sister and I do make samplers together, which you can find on the “Sampler” page of http://www.asweetremembrance.com.
Paula
You’ll be happy to hear that here is at least one large and healthy Osage tree in Rowayton. There is a ton of the fruits on the ground right now. Many are rotting but many are still very green.
That is good news 🙂 Many of my young Osage trees suffered damage in the October snow storm we had here. The snow was very heavy, wet and early. The leaves were still on the trees, which caused them to be weighted down with even more snow, so some of my Osages broke in fairly traumatic ways, since they are still only about 2 inches in diameter. I’m anticipating that I will have to battle thorns to prune and replant.
Hi there Paula…I just wanted to comment that a family member lives in Lockport, NY…not too far from Buffalo, NY…and there are a line of osage trees in her area surrounding a public vegetable garden. I had never seen any of the fruits and was surprised at how large and heavy they were! Now you have me thinking from your post…hmmm….where can I put some of these?…LOL…
Quinces!! How I love them. Quince Jelly, Quince Jam, Quince Paste ( the last on camembert cheese and crackers) Wicked , sheer indulgence. Did you know that quinces were regarded as sacred food in ancient times, the Romans had them at funeral feasts and they were left as offerings to the Nature spirits in Celtic mythology Quinces also have the effect of removing bad smells from rooms. True!! I had a really nasty musty room in my home years ago and cleansed it with a large bowl of quinces left in there overnight. Then I made them into jam and won first prize at the local fair. Cheers dears LOL from Australia Mimosa Jane.
I want some bodock apples where can i find them
Normally you will have to ask someone who has the trees to let you gather some. I did once see some for sale at a grocery store in Omaha, NE, along with the pumpkins and gourds, in October. I also found a man selling them at the Elephant’s Trunk flea market in New Milford, CT a couple of years ago. He had brought them from the Midwest. I was the only person shopping who even knew what they were and the only buyer, so I doubt that he will ever go to the trouble and expense of trying to sell them there again. It’s still too early where I am for the Osage oranges/hedge apples… to be ripe and falling from the trees. Once the trees are full size, picking up wind fall fruits is the most practical way to harvest them, as the trees can grow to be extremely tall.
A quick Google search turned up this online source for hedge apples http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/central/.
Just this morning I collected a dozen fallen Bodark apples here in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. I was given one last year that was found on a logging road up in the Magazine Mountains of Logan County, Arkansas. Just by chance I recognized the fruit in a tree near a rural Railroad Crossing. I pushed through briar bushes and thorns to retrieve my treasure. I found your site during my search “How To Grow an Osage Tree”. Thanks for your post.
Kathryn,
You are very welcome. Good luck with growing your own Bodark trees! The world can’t have enough Hedge Apples 🙂
Merry Christmas!
Paula
Have you heard of Maclura tricuspidata, a relative that produces an edible fruit you can graft onto your horse apple trees? It’s known as Che fruit or Cudrania
No, I hadn’t heard of that before…
How do you harvest the seeds from the fruit?
You cut a very ripe osage orange/hedge apple open and remove the seeds. Or alternately you can let the fruit rot and just plant pieces of the rotten fruit which will have seeds in them. I have heard of people making a slurry of the rotting fruits and water and pouring the seeds in the ground that way. Very small osage orange trees are also sometimes available via mail order at very reasonable prices.