Hedge balls for sale at Hy-Vee
The first time I ever saw such a concept was on the Knox County Scenic Drive. My sister and I laughed about it all afternoon. Where we were grew up, these ugly little bombs seemed to be as common as the rocks on our gravel road, or acorn caps scattered under the trees.
Hey, wait a minute….
ACORN CAPS, 80 CENTS APIECE!
…anyone?
I grew up on a farm in west central Illinois, where there was one stoplight in the entire county. As a newspaper reporter and award-winning columnist ("Six Degrees from Galesburg"), public-radio commentator and blogger, I've uncovered the truth behind local legends (remind me to tell you the one involving Ringo Starr's tonsils), visited ghost towns and forgotten haunts, and interviewed marginally famous celebrities who happened to be stopping through town ("Corky" from "Life Goes On," anyone?). Now, after 12 years in journalism and PR, I've moved to Davenport, Iowa, to start life with my husband and to embark on a new gig as an English instructor. I'm also working on a batch of essays about life in small-town, murderous-to-latter-day-prophet America, (see "Joseph Smith" tag below). I love to hear from people who land here. Please leave comments at the bottom of posts, or drop me a line at alison dot sixdegrees at gmail.com.
They’re supposed to keep spiders away, especially if you put them in corners.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura_pomifera
Interesting. No evidence that they repel spiders.
Now that’s a new one to me, about the spiders.
It’s what I was always told growing up. My grandmother always had one or two in the corners of her basement.
Interesting side note: the Osage Orange, which gives us the hedge tree, is not native to the Midwest. It was imported during the nineteenth century as a means to grow European-style hedge fencing, a much cheaper but longer to cultivate form of fencing than board fences or split rail fences. The invention of practical wire fencing killed it as a productive form of farm management.
@Bob, thanks for reading and commenting. That is so funny I’d never heard the spider-remedy theory (if I had, I would definitely have tried it)! Also, interesting about the Osage Orange– we can add them to the list of things in Illinois that aren’t technically supposed to be here: Asian lady beetles, Asian carp, (mass quantities of) deer… I know there are others I can’t think of right now.
I have used thehedge balls for years and they work very well
Mariah
I have used them and they work. It takes several. I put about 10 in my basement around the walls. I was told that farms used to put them up not as just fence but as a means to reduce insects.
I might have to try this!