Studies of European mistletoe’s host preferences often show distinct preferences for particular varieties, or cultivars, within a tree species – so that some varieties of Apple tree are more susceptible than others, as are some varieties of Lime tree, Poplar tree etc. Demonstrating this convincingly on the ground is difficult – as you generally need a lot of data for lots of trees. But on Christmas Day this year I suddenly found the perfect demo […]

Monty’s at it again! His annual mistletoe misinformation project is reduced to one small paragraph this year, published as usual in that bastion of misinformation, the Daily Mail. For comment on one of his longer previous efforts have a look at the the Mistletoe Diary for Dec 15th last winter. Here’s the new article line by line – with my comments MONTY’S PLANT OF THE WEEK (Daily Mail 28th Dec) Mistletoe (Viscum album) “Mistletoe is […]

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Mistletoe and candles – I’ve discussed this before, and as my regular reader knows, have no truck with any of those ‘mistletoe-scented’ affairs – which are all fakes, as mistletoe doesn’t have a scent. For previous diatribes see relevant blog entries from 2011 here and 2010 here. But earlier this year the Mistletoe Shop was approached by Lesley Sparks, of The Hedgewitches Garden, who wanted to produce mistletoe candles and melts, and needed to obtain some mistletoe […]

Plenty of stuff yet to come for the Mistletoe Diary this year – though I’m a bit behind schedule. Time for some light relief from San Francisco, where “interactive artists” (what does that actually mean?) George Zisiadis and Mustafa Khan have made a Mistletoe Drone out of a Parrot AR.Drone (pictured in unaltered form on the right). They wrapped their drone in tinsel and mistletoe and have taken it to Union Square in San Francisco to buzz unsuspecting couples. Zisiadis is […]

“Buy British!” That slogan doesn’t have the same ring about it these days, when so many products are imported, but surely mistletoe is one of those few that we could, in theory, realistically aspire to buy locally. There are regular calls each year to make sure your mistletoe is British, backed up with the idea that this will sustain our native mistletoe industry. But is this at all realistic? There is no labelling scheme – […]

When Mr Bieber’s ‘Mistletoe‘ song charted a couple of years I despaired. It was worse than Biff Pilchard’s ‘Mistletoe and Wine‘ (and it messed up every search engine’s responses to the word ‘mistletoe’ for ever!). News reports this week reveal that Pilchard’s version of Mistletoe and Wine is an over-sentimentalised version of a more politically-motivated original. And the original was part of a 1987 musical version of A Little Match Girl. You can watch a version […]

Or how too much mistletoe will suck your tree dry (and stop it fixing carbon too)… It’s the last weekend of mistletoe management and harvest work before Christmas and I’ve been reviewing the orchards we’ve worked in this season. All have been over-neglected, most of the apple trees are in dire need of proper management and all have had far too much mistletoe on them – which is, of course, why we were in them… […]

Pagans, Wiccans, Druids and Don’t-Knows assembled yesterday for a reassuring mistletoe ceremony in the Severn Vale. The gods (you decide which ones) were kind to us – the weather was beautiful, and only slightly chilly. I’m posting a few pics of the preparations here. There are none of the actual ceremony (as we were all taking part). Thanks to Keith for hosting it and Caz for organising it.

An 11-year old girl selling mistletoe in Portland (the one in Oregon, not the one in Dorset) may have succeeded in changing the rules at the city’s Saturday Market. Last weekend, after she set up a stall selling mistletoe for $4 a bunch (to raise money for her dental braces) she was told she had to stop, as she hadn’t paid for a stall licence. Madison Root and her family thought her small operation would […]