Late Summer Centerpiece

Every fall I like to pick up the fruits from Osage Orange trees. I’ve found three trees, all on public property, from which I harvest these strange looking fruits. I’m calling them fruits because I know that they contain the seeds, and biologically they would be the fruit of the plant. They are the strangest looking things – brainlike with little hairs. I love their green color. Usually I can pick up the fruits from the ground, but this year I had to pull on branches to bring the fruits down to my height so that I could pluck them off the branches. I had a lot of trouble arranging these giant, bumpy balls. When I finally got them in my wooden bowl in an ok arrangement, they looked a little lonely, so I went out to my compost pile to find a little something to add to them. Yes, I said compost pile. I had a big limb fall from one of my giant Poplar trees recently and when I hauled that limb to the pile, I noticed that the Poplar’s spring flowers had dried and were kind of pretty. I cut off some of the dried blossoms and I like how they look mixed in with the Osage Orange balls. My kitchen table is happy to finally have an arrangement on it again!

Close-up of the texture of the Osage Orange and of the dried Poplar flower

In other news, I had an excellent first day of school. I think that this year is going to be much better year than last.

6 Comments

  1. I remember when MB sent me a box full of osage oranges…I still can’t believe you can just go “out” somewhere and pick these great things up for free 🙂

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