berries , Biodiversity , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Gardening , Mistletoe , Other parasites , Science

Missouri Mistletoe looks European

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

Here’s a puzzler. Some background first – in the USA the native mistletoes are very different to our European Viscum album and, in multiple ways, inferior in appearance (branching, leaf shape, berry size etc) to ours. The species used at Christmas over there are mostly from the mistletoe genus Phoradendron, which do at least have evergreen leaves and white berries, they’re just not as good-looking!  (not to mention not being, actually, the genuine mistletoe of […]

berries , birds , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Gardening , germination , Mistletoe , social history

Growing Your Own – advice and caveats

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

The English Mistletoe Shop, the retail website which I’ve jointly run for many years now, is not supplying mistletoe grow-kits this year. For me this will be the first winter in 20 years that I’ve not supplied these kits, originally developed for the (now defunct) Tenbury English Mistletoe Enterprise website, so it is a significant change of tack for me. I am missing the build up to it already, but other projects are looming and […]

auctions , berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Mistletoe , Mistletoe Day , social history , Tenbury Wells

Mistletoe Season 2025/6

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

It’s mistletoe time, yet again. And this year the berries have been ripening particularly early, some whitening up a month ago in October – which is very early indeed, and somewhat disconcerting! But they’re looking good now, many fully translucent and already glowing in the winter sun (when it actually shines). Mistletoe Diary is reporting on various matters this year, but here, to start with, are few of the usual event announcements: Mistletoe Auctions at […]

berries , Biodiversity , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Gardening , germination , Mistletoe , Other parasites , Science

Parasitic plants in spring, Part 2

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

Picking up from my recent post about spring parasites that aren’t mistletoe, here are some pictures of what mistletoe seeds do in spring. And that is, mostly, germinating. On any old surface.  As the seeds won’t know, until the seedling tries to attach itself to a host, whether it is sitting on a host or not.  Interestingly, for these few weeks of germination, the mistletoe plant is independent, not parasitic, and relies on the resources […]

auctions , berries , Biodiversity , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Food and Drink , insects , Mistletoe , Orchard , Science

Invasive fruit-flies overwinter in mistletoe, with implications for fruit…

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

The dependent insect fauna of our mistletoe, Viscum album, gradually changes with time. The mistletoe-dependent weevil Ixapion variegatum was unknown in Britain until 2000, and the mistletoe sap-sucker Hypseloecus visci unknown here until 2003.  And there many other insects that use mistletoe, as well as those specialists.  These broader species also change with time and one, an invasive species of fruitfly, has come in for special attention recently.  Studies have shown how widespread it now […]

berries , birds , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Media , Mistletoe , surveying mistletoe

Mistletoe morsels 2024

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

A slow start to Mistletoe Diary his year, too many other things going on.  But masses of miscellaneous mistletoe morsels are planned for the next couple of weeks including: – Mistletoe in Parliament – a round-up of mistletoe mentions in the house, whether serious, jokey or filibuster – Mistletoe Song of the Day – a selection from the 1830s to the 2020s.  Some good, some bad, some non-PC – Mistletoe as a habitat for an […]

berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Gardening , Mistletoe , social history , stupidity , toxicity

Mistletoe nonsense 2023 #1: Ideal Home far from ideal

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

Quite a lot of nonsense written about mistletoe again this season, I never cease to be amazed by how much mis-information there is out there. Though as Roy Vickery, a  plant-lore expert at the Natural History Museum once said in one of his books some years ago; ‘more nonsense has been written about mistletoe than any other plant’ so perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised. Much of it relates to toxicity, confused understanding of differing […]

berries , Biodiversity , birds , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Mistle Thrush , MistleGO , Mistletoe , Orchard , Science , social history , surveying mistletoe

MistleGO! A new mistletoe survey launched!

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

A brand new mistletoe survey has just been launched by the Tree Council and Oxford University, as an app-based citizen science project to assess the state of mistletoe in Britain. Not just where is it, but what quantities exist. This is new, and exciting, as it will help determine what is happening with mistletoe here -it seems to be spreading more and faster, but we need a new study to assess this, and to create […]

auctions , berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Mistletoe

Mistletoe selling well, in week 2

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

A quick update to last week’s comments about relatively few mistletoe lots at the Tenbury Wells auctions. Much better this week, as expected, with more many more lots and, to quote Nick Champion (the auctioneer) “mistletoe was more plentiful and still met the best trade seen for years”. So everything’s fine – no need to worry about the mistletoe trade! Meanwhile there’s a lot of attention being paid to the amount and spread of mistletoe […]

auctions , berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Gardening , Media , Mistletoe , Mistletoe Day , Science , social history , Tenbury Wells

Mistletoe time, again – news and updates for 2023/24

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

A slightly late start to the blog this year – but announcing all the usual stuff; the berries are looking good, whitening up already, mistletoe events are being organised, mistletoe studies are being planned and mistletoe commerce is underway. In events news there are the usual mistletoe auctions at Tenbury Wells – this year on Tuesday 21st and Tuesday  28th November. Details for buyers and sellers are at https://nickchampion.co.uk/auctions/holly-and-mistletoe/ or, if you just want to watch, […]