Got some spare dosh?  Not worried about the credit crunch?  Looking for a private mistletoe-themed romantic encounter for just you and your mate? Look no further – for December only the London Eye are including a 'hand-tied sprig of mistletoe' in their £299.00 Cupid's Capsule package.  I hope it's British mistletoe. It also includes 'a romantic Private Capsule, complete with a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Champagne and a luxury box of Charbonnel et Walker pink champagne […]

A pic of that mistletoe sculpture I mentioned in yesterday's blog… The stainless steel structure was made by sculptor Steve Blaylock – who is pictured kissing his wife Rachel underneath it (I hope it's securely tied…) at RHS Harlow Carr.  The pic (click to enlarge) is by Richard Doughty and borrowed from http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk

Been v busy with mistletoe matters, mistletoe media etc last few days (and weeks) and so a bit busy for blogging (and replying to emails, apols if you've sent in a mistletoe query recently and it's not been answered yet – will get around to it soon…). So am just reporting on a couple of mistletoe trivia points today. Tasteful trivia:  Harlow Carr, the Royal Horticultural Society's garden in Yorkshire, has just taken delivery of […]

Today was the first of this year's wholesale auctions at Tenbury…  will add more text later, though nothing particularly new to report other than to review prices etc… But here are a couple of pix for now, showing Nick Champion starting the mistletoe lots..

Info for journalists… The latest News Release for the 2008 Mistletoe Festival is now available at www.teme-mistletoe.co.uk/festival07/images/MtoeFest08_NR01.pdf

Lots of news reports over the weekend about the ‘bumper crop’ of mistletoe we’ve got this season, many quoting me as saying how good the berry crop is, and how this’ll keep the prices down – which is good for a ‘credit crunch Christmas’. All this sounds very good but I think I must highlight two caveats: Firstly the expected low prices (to be confirmed, or not, at the first mistletoe auction of 2008 tomorrow) […]

Spent today with the Colwall Orchards Group, doing some mistletoe management.  Colwall is a village (actually a group of small hamlets – Upper Colwall, Colwall Green etc etc) towards the south end of the Malvern Hills on the left-hand (western) side.  Which makes it just in Herefordshire. The orchards group there  is a relatively new one, who have been reviewing the state and status of traditional orchards within their patch over the last year or […]

Over a month since my last entry – no excuses except that mistletoe season is upon us already, and that, ironically, keeps me too busy to blog about mistletoe. So, some quick newsy updates: Mistletoe crop 2008: Still looking good for berries – loads of them on the plants, but the leaves are looking a bit small – even absent entirely, on some sprigs.  So it’s not yet clear whether this year is a good […]