Mistletoe is often thought of as a south-western plant in Britain – though to be more accurate it’s a south-western midlands plant, and is very rare in the true south-west, very little in Cornwall, not much in Devon, and not a lot in Dorset. (See the Mistletoe Pages and Mistletoe Matters distribution info sheet for more info) . Yesterday we had an opportunity for a brief mistletoe hunt in Dorset, mainly repeat visits to known […]

Today was the first of the traditional three Tenbury Wells Mistletoe Auctions for 2012.  Lots of mistletoe there, all with lots of berries, but maybe a few fewer buyers than normal – probably because of the travel difficulties this incessant rain is causing.  A few pics below, just to set the (slightly rainy) scene – note the Mistletoe themed Bread and Beer on show – see the Tenbury Wells Mistletoe Festival website for more info on these […]

First mistletoe auctions of the year are due this Tuesday in Tenbury Wells, and I thought it would be fun to embed the One Show video about Tenbury and Mistletoe from last year.  This is the video recently posted online by Mark Adams of Kissmemistletoe, though with a different url just in case the BBC take exception and delete one of them for copyright reasons…  (No copyright infringement intended BBC!). The video is presented by […]

Have just found yesterday’s letter to the Telegraph (see comments yesterday) in their website edition. It’s an accurate statement by the letter writer – that contrary to their earlier report mistletoe is abundant – but the letter is about growths in Bushey Park, Richmond, and so the Telegraph have headlined it as ‘Parks show no sign of a mistletoe shortage‘. Which is nowhere near an admission that the wider ‘mistletoe shortage’ they reported is imaginery – […]

Lots of very wet mistletoe about this week and, at yesterday’s mistletoe management workshop in Herefordshire some very wet people too. The workshop was a meeting hosted by Herefordshire Orchards Network of Excellence (HONE) to discuss mistletoe in general – and was attended by a great range of orchard growers – some who wanted to be rid of mistletoe and some who desperately wanted to grow more. Differing perspectives mainly based on where you’re from – […]

Keeping the Mistletoe Pages website up-to-date is an one of those perpetual tasks.  It has been through several design changes in its 12 year life – but this season, partly to aid editing, it has been migrated entirely to a WordPress system. You can see it here. So it should all be up-to-date now? Well, not quite – there are still a few gaps to fill with info, but it’s almost all there. Feedback is […]

Yesterday I wrote briefly about mistletoe management, and the ongoing struggle to cope with too much mistletoe in the more neglected orchards of the south-west midlands.  It’s an issue which I think is very important, giving rise to a short-lived abundance of mistletoe in some older orchards – which sounds good until you think about that ‘short-lived’ point – too much mistletoe will accelerate the death of the trees, and so accelerate loss of old […]

Spent much of the weekend battling mistletoe – some of the time up in trees, and some of the time going through the same stuff on the ground, twice.  I say battling, as that what it feels like sometimes – especially heavily infested trees that need management.  You end up with a cricked neck and hair and clothing full of mistletoe fragments. The tree pictured is one in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, and is just one of several in a small 1930s […]

Several new ventures in Tenbury Wells this season, catalysed by the new Tenbury Mistletoe Association, who have taken on the running of the town’s Mistletoe Festival. Recently announced delights include mistletoe-themed (though not mistletoe-flavoured*) beer and mistletoe bread.  Extracts from the news releases for both are summarised below. The Special Edition  ‘Kiss Me Now’ beer has been brewed by Cleobury Mortimer-based Hobsons Brewery.  It will only be available on draught in 25 pubs, restaurants and […]

Following on from the initial, and totally untrue (see posts for 14th and 15th November), press reports (repeated in the Independent yesterday too – muppets!) claiming that mistletoe supply is poor this year and that there are few berries, I thought some reassurance would be in order. Mistletoe for the 2012/13 season is looking good There is no shortage There are plenty of berries 2012’s unusual weather has not been a problem Hope that’s settled now. . Don’t believe me? Well, go […]