Yesterday’s blog about giant mistletoes featured the amazing Western Australian Christmas Tree – a mistletoe that grows in the ground by parasitising the host’s roots, not the branches. And today another Australian mistletoe story caught my eye – though this time because there’s a bit of mistletoe misunderstanding in it. It’s the first of these (mistletoe misunderstandings) I’ve featured for the 2013 season, though it probably won’t be the last, judging by previous years! The […]

Who has the largest mistletoe? The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in California thinks it does. They even claim that the 12-foot-long by eight-foot-wide mistletoe (pictured right) hanging from their entrance is recognised in the Guinness of Records as the world’s largest. And they should know something about large there – apparently the hotel occupies an entire city block. And they’ve had that giant mistletoe for 2 years now. But lots of other places have claimed to have […]

This week sees the first wholesale mistletoe sales in Tenbury Wells, and so it’s about time I started posting more regularly in the Mistletoe Diary. So, what might be covered in the winter 2013/14 mistletoe season? Current plans include Mistletoe Markets and Fairs – they’re not just in Tenbury you know… A bit more on archaeological aspects of mistletoe A druid ceremony or two This year’s crop of mistletoe-themed Christmas cards Texas – home of […]

Another day, another mistletoe inspection. And this year’s berries are looking better every time – all fully-formed, and full-sized and lots of them. Yet another mistletoe bling year looms, but this time with perfect berries. And I think it’s berry impressive that I’ve finally (yesterday), after 2 seasons of talking about it, formatted A Little Book About Mistletoe for Kindles and Kindle Apps. The problem was deciding how best to format the pictures (the original print […]

In the last week or two there has been some worrying about how late mistletoe berries are whitening up this year – staying a milky-green for too long. But I was out looking at mistletoe yesterday and found lots of almost entirely white berries, so I don’t think we need to worry. Much depends on which side of the tree you’re standing – on the south-facing, sunny side of the tree, all the mistletoe now […]