OSAGE ORANGES

Steps:

• 1. You may know them as, Hedge Apple, Hedge Ball, Horse Apple, Green Brains, Monkey Balls or Mock Orange but they are all one in the same.
• 2. Or you can purchase them in certain areas for a small price.
• 3. Squirrels enjoy eating the seeds out of the Osage Oranges. An osage orange is made up of a network of seeds woven together with a a fibrous membrane laden with creamy white "sticky" sap. The squirrels work at getting the seeds out and love eating them.
• 4. Horses love eating them too.
• 5. Some people use them in making wreaths.
• 6. Here they are used as a Christmas table decoration.
• 7. This is a beautiful display of Osage Oranges in a fall decorative display.
• 8. Another beautiful decorative display made with osage oranges.
• 9. The centuries-old Osage-orange tree that reigns over Patrick Henry's home in Red Hill has been dethroned. The 2011 National Register of Big Trees stripped the Red Hill tree of its title as the largest of its species in the United States in July and bestowed the mantle upon co-champions, an Osage-orange in Alexandria that resides on property once owned by George Washington, and another in New Castle, Del. Red Hill's Osage-orange was first nominated for the title in 1969. In national competition, big trees win points for circumference, height and crown spread. And while there's no doubt that the Osage-orange tree at the Patrick Henry National Memorial is stout - it's 27 feet around - its crown has been overshadowed. The New Castle Osage crown has a spread of 85 feet, and the Alexandria Osage crown is 90 feet, according to the national big tree registry. The average crown spread of the Red Hill tree, according to the registry, is 64 feet. For more info:http://www.americanforests.org/our-programs/bigtree/