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Silver Creek Nursery

Osage Orange

Osage Orange

Species: Maclura pomifera

History: Osage Orange is originally native to a small portion of Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. It was first introduced to European colonizers in the early 1800s by the Osage Nation, hence the name of the tree, who prized it for its use in making bows. It was then widely planted across the US in hedgerows thanks to the dense, thorny hedges it forms when pruned that were impenetrable to livestock. It was in fact one of the primary trees included in President Franklin Roosevelt's Great Plains Shelterbelt project which started in 1934 and by 1942 had resulted in 220 million trees being planted. The hard, rot-resistant, yellow wood was also useful for making fence posts, tool handles, and dye.

Why We Grow It: Although the fruit produced by the Osage Orange is not considered edible, this tree has plenty of other uses! It is still commonly planted as an ornamental tree and the bright yellow inner wood adds an extra level of appeal.

Fruit Specs

Recommended Use: Ornamental, hedgerow, coppicing, wood for tool handles and fences, firewood

Fruit Size: Green

Storage:

Harvest: September to October

Growing Specs

Canadian Hardiness Zone: 4

Soil Preference: Prefers dry soils but adaptable to a wide variety of conditions

Flowering Time: Spring

Bloom Colour: Green

Pollination Requirements: Male and female trees are required to produce fruit

Sun/Shade Requirements:

Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)

General Growth Habits:

Tree generally reaches 12-20m tall, very thorny. Generally free of insect pests and diseases.

Shipping vs. Pick Up

CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.

Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.

Size at Purchase

Our ungrafted fruit tree seedlings, nut tree seedlings, berries, and other miscellaneous plants are categorized into the following sizes excluding the roots:

  • 5-15cm
  • 15cm+
  • 30cm+
  • 60cm+
  • 90cm+

All of these heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).

Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively. 

Why plant small? It's best to transplant when a plant is young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot plants tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted ones planted at the same time, after a few years.

Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.

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