Current Affairs , Gardening , Media , Mistletoe , social history

Mistletoe Auction, with guard cat

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

First mistletoe auction of the year at Tenbury Wells today. Good to see some security staff on site keeping out any mistletoe rustlers. Their van said they had dogs, but the fiercest animal I saw patrolling the mistletoe lots was this cat. This, though it looked charming, was probably capable of playing rough. And judging by the mud covered paws, face and flank it had done so quite recently. A small Chihuahua type dog nearby shivered continually. When […]

Current Affairs , Mistletoe , social history

Missable Mistletoe Gadgets 2015 – the Drone

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

Tacky and tasteless ornaments are a reliable feature of Christmas, and mistletoe-themed ones are often amongst the worst. This year we are being offered the mistletoe drone, a concept arguably started by TGI Friday last year when they had a version flying round their restaurants. TGI Friday’s promotion, by the way, was somewhat blighted when one of the drones crashed into a customer and sliced off part of her nose…  I hope this new model, marketed by […]

Current Affairs , Gardening , Media , Mistletoe

Kiss and Tell in the English Garden

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

Another year, and another slightly embarrassing (I never quite get used to them) profile of yours truly in the national press. This time in the English Garden magazine, a glossy monthly about, er, English Gardens and gardening. I have been featured in this mag before, way back in 2006 when they published an article on mistletoe and mistletoe planting, in which I gave advice on planting techniques. This time it’s a profile in their ‘Garden […]

Current Affairs , Gardening , social history , Travel

The first of 2015’s Giant Mistletoes, but will it be the best?

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

Giant, pendant, but fake (obviously) mistletoes seem to be turning into a tradition, at least amongst corporate marketing teams and street decorators. In recent years there have many examples of these giant decorations – some stunning works of art (e.g. at RHS Harlow Carr back in 2008), some remarkable eye-catchers (e.g. Heathrow Airport in 2013) and some just plain tasteless (e.g Melbourne’s glow in the dark decorations in 2013, which looked as if was made of […]

Current Affairs , Gardening , Mistle Thrush , Mistletoe , Orchard , social history , Travel

Not-so-wild but fairly western mistletoe

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

How far west can mistletoe grow in Britain? The main population is in the south-west English Midlands, overlapping into eastern-most Wales in Monmouthshire. But despite this being western-ish (this is definitely west of Britain’s geographic centre) it is not really a western plant, being quite rare in Devon and Cornwall, and in the rest of Wales. There are a few isolated populations, here and there, but they can be hard to find. And those odd populations may […]