{"id":10971,"date":"2018-09-20T02:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T06:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=10971"},"modified":"2018-09-21T10:46:13","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T14:46:13","slug":"osage-orange-as-a-landscape-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2018\/09\/20\/osage-orange-as-a-landscape-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"Osage Orange As A Landscape Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Hedge Apples”<\/p><\/div>\n

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Sturdy wood of osage orange<\/p><\/div>\n

Osage orange (Maclura pomifera<\/em>) has been declawed and neutered (USDA Zones 5-9). A member of the mulberry family (Moraceae), this tough prairie tree species is native to east Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. It grows fast @ 2 \u00bd to 3 feet per year. It is also called Bois D\u2019Arc (pronounced \u201cbow-dark\u201d).<\/p>\n

Osage orange is a dioecious species. Female trees are generally not recommended for landscape use because the fruits pose a considerable litter problem. The “hedge apples” are large 4-6 inch wide yellowish green fruits. Each may weigh 2 to 3 pounds and fall from the tree in October to become a maintenance headache. Female trees need a male tree pollinator in order to produce fruit.<\/p>\n

Fierce \u00bd- inch long thorns, hidden within the dense branches, can do lots of harm, even puncture a vehicle tire. The\u00a0bark on mature trees is deeply fissured, with an orange-brown inner wood peeking through. The wood is hard, does not split or rot, and makes great fence posts. A century ago, in lieu of fences, farmers in the South Central states planted thousands of miles of hedgerows of osage orange. The tree suckers freely and becomes a quagmire\u00a0of vicious thorns.<\/p>\n

Osage orange is easily grown in adequately drained soils in full sun to part shade. The tree grows almost anywhere, in poor infertile, acid or alkaline soils, and dry or wet fields. It also tolerates drought, heat, cold and wind.\u00a0Disease and pest problems are practically non-existent. Its foliage is tolerant of urban air pollutants.<\/p>\n

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‘White Shield’ (photo courtesy of J F Schmidt Nursery)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018Wichita\u2019 and \u2018White Shield\u2019 are fruitless and thornless (male) selections.\u00a0Both cultivars are attractive landscape trees with deep green shiny foliage that turns a beautiful fall pale to golden yellow in fall.\u00a0\u2018Wichita\u2019 grows slightly taller than \u2018White Shield\u2019, and its branching tends to be slightly more upright.\u00a0 \u2018White Shield\u2019 forms a rounded canopy, averaging 35 feet in height and spread.\u00a0 Trees bloom in late spring with tiny (mostly inconspicuous) green flower clusters.<\/p>\n

Either cultivar is a good choice for large residential or commercial properties, city parks, and golf courses. Plant\u00a0the tree under power lines\u00a0or utilize as a deciduous windbreak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) has been declawed and neutered (USDA Zones 5-9). A member of the mulberry family (Moraceae), this tough prairie tree species is native to east Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. It grows fast @ 2 \u00bd to 3 feet per year. It is also called Bois D\u2019Arc (pronounced \u201cbow-dark\u201d). Osage orange is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,772,398,657,1319,1391,645,674,806,1357,1386,665,1151,774,1374,853,866,1263,551,627,995,202,1060,990,601,729,643,777,1210,630,705,646,7,113,819,1222,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10971"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10979,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10971\/revisions\/10979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}