Living Fences are exactly what they sound like. Fences that are alive and growing. Sue wants to plant these all around our property fence-lines. It’s a great way to have a very tightly woven fence to keep animals both in and out of pasture or orchard areas, they can make a GREAT wind break (which you know we’re always looking for), plus – in some cases – fruit! Mother Earth News has a really comprehensive article with instructions if you’re interested.
There are many trees that work for this type of fence; perhaps the most popular, or widely used, being the Osage Orange. The Osage Orange Tree is a native of the Red River Valley of Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, but has become widely naturalized in many areas of the US. In addition to being easily grown from seed, it is a prolific fruit bearing plant, and the wood is prized for its strength and flexibility – greatly used in the making of bows. (Oh! The wood is also used to make a nice yellow dye for natural fibers.) Planted at a spacing of 1 foot, in four years it makes a fence that is “horse-high, bull-strong, and hog-tight.” Because it adapts well to different soils, is drought tolerant, long lived, and fast growing- these will probably be the mainstay of our living fences… Sue purchased something like 100 seeds… maybe 200.
Other trees that make good fences are: Possum Haw Holly, Honey Locust, Chinese Date, Cape Jasmine, Carolina Buckthorn, Mockernut Hicory, and Tamarind. These trees come from varying climates and we’re not sure which may thrive here in our zone. So, until we figure that out, Sue purchased fewer of these seeds. Some trees take a year or more to germinate and require quite a gamut of temperatures before they do. One of the tree’s seeds require boiling, another scarification, and many need moist or dry cold. It’s all a big experiment! We hope the Osage Orange does really quite well and we’ll be able to cultivate them ourselves in a short couple of years. You know we’ll keep you posted! Until then~ as always,
Thanks for Reading!
Today’s Weather: Well, it was supposed to be over 70° today, but the highest I saw was 66°. It’s quite a warm evening for us though. The next few days are supposed to be nice and warm, clear. Sunday the wind will be back. Don’t really like that wind.
Egg Report: 5 eggs yesterday! Today’s report has not come in. Perhaps our correspondent will give us the update later on Facebook.
Wing and a Prayer 