Wonderful garden and path, I'd sit there and enjoy, getting nothing done - which is just fine by me.

Paul

I love Hedge Apple trees.It is the very best wood to burn in a wood burner,burns a long time,but hard to split.
Your tree is very pretty, do you know how old it is, never seen one that big.

What are the blue flowers growing with your hosta, very pretty,you have a nice garden,thanks for sharing your pictures.
cAROL

here is some info on hedge apples...Since they do not grow here in MN I did not know what they were.

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1997/10-10-1997/hedgeapple.html

The hedge tree is 125 years old.It has very interesting twisted branches, it looks neat in winter. The blue flowers are woodland phlox "blue moon". Here's a pic of some small hedge balls that drop in the fall.Some can be bigger than grapefruits.

those are the seed pods of an osage orange ...

see link

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

What a beautiful garden. Someone answered the question in my mind about what the blue flowers are. They are perfect. I love the way they are repeated all along but not in a row. The hosta peeking out from under the bench is very coy. I will be anxiously waiting for more pictures. I want to walk right around the corner and go into your backyard. Myrle

Here is a close up of epimedium and woodland phlox flowering together in the garden.

What Myrle said, I can't say it any better.
Love epidmediums, they are such enchanting little flowers.

Long ago,farmers used the wood from the hedge apple for fence posts.Once cut,and dried, they last forever.If you try to cut one after it has been felled,it will ruin your saw blade,the wood is so hard.
You are very Lucky to have one that old,we have a lot of the hedge apple out here, but nothing that big,or that nice,and yes, the wood twists and turns every which way.
I bet your hosta take a beating in the fall eh.

Love the woodland phlox,they sure do look stunning with your turned walk way,and hosta.Do they only bloom a few weeks?
Do you have any more pictures to share,what a great sight for snow covered eyes,ha ha
cAROL

I actually have 6 hedge trees that totally shade my garden. In the fall, 3 of them drop the balls, I call it the hedge wars. Every year something gets clobbered, a limb knocked off a Japanese maple, or a hosta flattened, sometimes I even wear a hard hat on windy days when they are really coming down. And what a noise on the roof! It sounds like we are getting bombed. But, I still love them for the wonderful shade over my shade garden. The phlox blooms for about a month in spring. After it's done I cut it to the ground. Another neat story about this garden that hosta lovers will appreciate, see the Lancifolia along the house? I dug that up from my mother-in-laws house a couple months before she died and the house was sold. I'll always remember her whenever I walk along that path.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, I love that you have your moms hosta.
You have one of the prettiest gardens i have seen in a long time,love the twists and turns.
cAROL

I love the 'perspective' in those pics!

hh

Thanks for all the nice comments. Another interesting hedgeapple factoid, they were used by farmers before barbwire was invented. The farmers planted them in a row, (hedge row), to keep cattle in. The hedge tree was so valuable to farmers and ranchers, the hedge balls were sold on the commodities exchange like corn, etc. When barb wire was invented the hedge market ended. I have several limbs in the ground holding up birdhouses. I also made a path out of 2 inch slices, they take many, many years to rot.

I never heard of hedge apples-what a great name. We have always called these Osage oranges. I collect them in the fall and use them with gourds in a wooden bowl in the family room. I knew that was what you were talking about as soon as I saw the trunk and you mentioned the "grapefruit sized ball" that your tree drops-lol. Couldn't be anything else! So nice to actually know something for a change!

That's a beautiful garden walkway. You have a lot of courage, gardening under the hedge apples. That's what we always called them when I was growing up. I lived on a hill in the second frame house built in the area (built in 1847...not old for you easterners, but about as old as they get here in NW Illinois) and the entire pasture was surrounded by a hedge of Osage orange. We kids would gather them up in piles in the fall, build forts, and commence the hedge apple wars. Someone always got a bloodied nose or black eye, and Mom would call a halt to the war. One year (I was really young!) one brother and I went down by the road, made a pile, and waited for a car to come along. We thought it would be a great idea to pelt a car with them...thinking that we would just see the hedge balls smashed. We ended up getting in a lot of trouble when the first ones we threw landed on our neighbor's windshield. He went home and called Grandma (we didn't have a phone) and she told Mom, and we had our backsides warmed. I have never looked at a hedge apple again without thinking of that, and it was over a half century ago.
Many of the hedge trees that were planted along the road are still there, and they have to be about 150 years old. My dad told us about planting hedgerows with his dad back in the 30's. They couldn't afford wire fencing, so they would just cut hedge stakes and drive them in the ground really close together. Many of them would root and the new hedge was started.
Thanks for tripping the old hedge memories, and please share more of your garden soon!

oooolaalaaa, that pic of the garden with the hedgeapple path, mmmmmm.

hh

Oh my. . .absolutely beautiful. . .

I am breathless!
You sure do have a way with combinations,where do you live?
cAROL

Linda, great story!

Near Branson Mo, in the Ozarks.