Plenty of mistletoe mentions on ITV this morning – all within the 2 hour show Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh (on ITV Hub here). Helped along a bit by Sir Cliff ‘Mistletoe and Wine‘ Richard being the main guest.
Christmas swag-making featured about 30 minutes in – with plenty of mistletoe incorporated into a very long decoration. Some good mentions of how sticky the berries are, and their need for light when germinating, but then Mr Titchmarsh ruined the illusion that, for once, here was a TV Gardener who knew how to grow mistletoe, by stating, categorically, that berries had to be ‘rotten’ before the seeds would germinate. Where on earth did he get that bit of nonsense from?? Berries have to be mature (which they will be in February/March, not now) but not rotten. How would being rotten help?! They germinate best when fresh and healthy. Yet another TV Gardener getting it wrong (see many previous blogs over many years). I really do despair.
All the more frustrating because I had helped make this programme – their Tree of the Week was Apple, using footage taken in an orchard session with me back in October, with Lesley Joseph’s voiceover referencing the link between apple trees and mistletoe (49 minutes in if you watch it) and then a session with me talking about mistletoe, in that same Gloucestershire orchard, at 76 minutes* in. Nice little bit of film, didn’t realise my hair was getting so grey though!
And, towards the end (about 105 minutes in) another nod to apple trees and Gloucestershire orchards when Alan and Sir Cliff sample some liqueurs, including an Eau de Vie made from apples grown in a heritage varieties orchard in Gloucestershire.
Apples trees, orchards and mistletoe – what’s not to like? Just incorrect (as usual) TV Gardener advice!
(*timings are all from the 2 hour programme as broadcast. If you’re watching on ITV Hub it’s 30 minutes shorter (fewer ads) so my bit is at about 59 minutes in. If watching ad-free on ITV Plus it will, I assume, be even earlier.)
And, Alan, if you’re reading this, if you do want to grow mistletoe why not learn how using a Mistletoe Grow-Kit? Available from the English Mistletoe Shop website at englishmistletoeshop.co.uk
And for more general mistletoe Information visit the Mistletoe Pages website.