I looked out the window and what did I see? Tennis balls on the Tennis ball tree?!

So - we had moved into our new house (which is actually quite an old house). The previous occupant had a large dog (which apparently had fleas - but that's another long story). By where the dog was tied up was a cross between a tennis ball and a chew toy. It just seemed an odd thing and registered on my mind.

We were so busy that we were hardly even home during daylight - but I noted laying in bed one early morning that there were large green things growing on the tree outside. From a distance - they reminded me of tennis balls. Thus it became the tennis ball tree (where do you think they get the tennis balls from anyway?)

I didn't at that moment take the opportunity to actually closely inspect the tree - just noted the odd green fruit in a rather curious way.

A week or two later - things calmed down enough to investigate further. I found the most amazing fruit on the tree.

Well - admitedly on close inspection - it doesn't exactly look like a tennis ball - but what the heck is it? Further investigation was required.
Have you ever seen such a thing? I was bewildered.

By this time Julie was up and I showed it to her - she thought it extremely cool and went to the internet to figure out what it was (she is a biologist after all - though usually she deals with fish).

Less than 10 minutes later she comes to me quite excited and says "It's an orange osage tree!" I bet it's great for dying things (she also loves to use natural dyes on fabrics).

Well we both thought that was neat - because one of the absolutely coolest trees I've ever seen was an orange osage tree

(this was a picture from a year ago when my parents and I visited Harrodsburg KY)

Anyway - our orange osage tree isn't quite this special:


Still - It's only the second one I've seen.

Apparently the wood is known for being very hard and burning very hot. It was regularly used in days gone by to make hedges because it grows quickly and thickly. There are reports of people taking the fruit and mashing it up and then pouring the mash into a long trench - within 2-3 years there is a row of bushes there that barn animals can't jump out of.

There's a bit of trivia for you - maybe orange osage trees aren't your thing - but it was something a bit different that added a little fun to our lives.

Enjoy