There’s a Black Friday sale on at the English Mistletoe Shop for the next few days, ending at midnight on Sunday 1st December.
15% off Mistletoe Grow-Kits and Grow-Kit Gift Cards.
Only on the main English Mistletoe Shop site at englishmistletoeshop.co.uk
A good turn out of both people and mistletoe lots for today’s mistletoe auction at Tenbury Wells. Mistletoe looking good, lots of berries, again, though perhaps not quite as plump as some previous years. A few lots had yellower leaves – which won’t fetch as good a price as the greener stuff. But there were masses of nice green stuff too.
Some lively bidding for lovely mistletoe!
Only two auctions this year – the second and last is next week, Tuesday 3rd December.
Slide show of scenes before and during below:
More Mistletoe Information: for general mistletoe info visit the Mistletoe Pages website.
Mistletoe Grow-Kits, Books and Cards: visit the English Mistletoe Shop website at englishmistletoeshop.co.uk
(the first of some blogs about mistletoe-themed plants)
The distinctive geometric branching of Viscum album, the classic mistletoe of legend, is one of its most distinguishing features. Each branch bifurcates once a year, creating an intricate pattern. Not all mistletoes have this property – for example the Phoradendron species used at Christmas in the US don’t – they look really quite ordinary, not like the European plant at all.
But a few other plants do have a similar pattern – though they aren’t mistletoe. The best-known of these are, perhaps, species of Rhipsalis the so-called ‘Mistletoe Cacti’.
There are about 35 species of Rhipsalis, all true cacti with leaves reduced to spines and thick photosynthetic stems, some flattened but some cylindrical. It is the cylindrical-stemmed ones that are known as the mistletoe cacti as these stems, when they divide, seem to echo the growth of our mistletoe Viscum album. Their fruits even look vaguely like mistletoe berries.
These are ‘jungle cacti’ from Central and South America, with several forms and species popular as house plants. Some are quite ‘hairy’ with fine spines coating the stems but others are virtually spine free. One of the commonest seen is Rhipsalis baccifera which, in its baldest, most spine/hairless form, is quite distinctive.
They are easily grown from stem fragments, though these take a while to root. Here (below) is my current specimen, grown from three tiny stem fragments I picked up from the ground underneath a neglected garden centre specimen some months ago (I know a bargain when I spot one!)
No flowers yet, so no berries, but it’s now growing rapidly so I hope for some soon next year…
Or just a generic Christmassy-themed retail-fest?
The phrase Mistletoe Market is fairly uncommon here in the UK – the mistletoe auctions at Tenbury Wells are sometimes called this, but not often. We also have a few Mistletoe Fairs – some more mistletoey than others (of which more in another post soon) – but we have few events formally called a Mistletoe Market.
But cross the atlantic and the US is brimming with ‘mistletoe markets’, some lasting just a day or so, some lasting weeks, some as early as November, some not until nearer Christmas. These are real, regular, pre-Christmas phenomena.
So what are they, and where, if at all, does mistletoe feature? Mistletoe in the US is, as regular Mistletoe Diary readers will know, a different and much less attractive species than the species we have here in Europe, so it would be surprising if these markets were actually about mistletoe – the local species aren’t really special enough!
And of course they’re not about mistletoe, the word is used as a label for a seasonal pre-Christmas retail event. But that doesn’t matter – it’s still a reflection of mistletoe as a cultural plant, harking back centuries, possibly millennia, to mid-winter customs with the plant.
Many of these Mistletoe Markets are run by good causes – Junior Leagues, Schools and other community groups. Others are run by city authorities and a few seem to be firmly commercially-run.
Some (fairly random) examples:
Marietta, Georgia – raising funds for community programs
Mistletoe Market is returning, Junior League of Cobb-Marietta is excited for the return of the beloved holiday shopping event. We are thrilled to bring back the spirit of Mistletoe Market, raising funds to support many community service programs. You can’t go wrong by Shopping Small and For a Cause! Mistletoe Market will be bringing together 50 plus specialty merchants from across the Southeast. Join us as we get the holiday season started!
Mistletoe Market is Oklahoma City’s premier shopping event featuring unique merchandise from more than 100 carefully selected vendors from Oklahoma and across the country. Shop for clothing, gourmet foods, gifts, children’s items, jewelry and more – we promise you’ll find everything you need and more!
Mistletoe Market raises funds to support the mission of the Junior League of Oklahoma City. Proceeds from Mistletoe Market go to fund the Junior League of Oklahoma City’s health-based community projects in the Oklahoma City metro and helps the Junior League send trained volunteers into the community.
Thanks to the dollars raised at Mistletoe Market since 1994, JLOC has been able to distribute more than $1.5 million to Oklahoma City through funding of community projects!
Franklin, Tennessee, raising funds for Franklin High School Class of 2019 Project Graduation
Mistletoe Market is Franklin High School’s Christmas seasonal warm-up event, featuring crafts, gifts, decor and treats.
More than 135 vendors will be on hand from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday Nov 10 at the school, 810 Hillsboro Road, Franklin.
Free parking and free admission.
Grove City, Ohio, raising funds for the Grove City Food Pantry
The Mistletoe Market will run from 10am to 6pm on December 7, 2019. Reminiscent of the German Kristkindl Market, this festive Holiday Shopping Market brings old world charm & warmth to Grove City’s Historic Town Center
Breakfast with Santa. Come to these Festive Market Spaces for your unique, one of a kind, Holiday Gift Shopping
• In Town Center Businesses
• Inside City Hall’s Council Chambers & Lobby
Find Selected Retailers & Fine Crafters for Exclusive Holiday Gift Items & Winter Wares
The Junior League of Huntington’s Mistletoe Market is a one-day shopping event that kicks off the holiday shopping season. Proceeds from this event help us with our initiatives on promoting physical and mental wellness for women and children. Mistletoe Market 2019 will be held at the Ramada Limited located at 3094 16th Street Road in Huntington, WV on Friday, November 8th from 4:00 pm-10:00 pm. If you purchase a VIP ticket you are granted early access from 4:00 pm-6:00 pm along with a wine glass full of coupons.
Mistletoe Market celebrates its 21st anniversary on October 31 – November 3, 2019 at Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center. Highlights of the Market include $500 in shopping spree opportunities, Mistletoe Market Cafe, and daily door prizes. Over 80 Merchants from 15 states bring a variety of items including: gifts for the gardener in your family, jewelry including earrings, bracelets and necklaces, holiday decor, clothing, and antiques. In addition to our cafe there are gourmet food vendors with fantastic holiday treats and food trucks to keep your energy high as you shop til’ you drop.
Houston, Texas – a commercially-run event
Shop till you drop at the Midtown Mistletoe Market. This destination, high energy NYC style holiday inspired market features contemporary craft, makers, fine foods, lots of activities, DIY gift stations, live entertainment and artists selling their original and series works, located in the heart of Midtown Houston in Midtown Park. Look for the beautiful outdoor setting with custom made red and white tents and holiday décor. Sip, stop and play Santa is on his way.
These are just a few – have a google if you want to find out about all the others!
Here in the UK we seem to call similar events (though we don’t actually have many of them) Mistletoe Fairs – I’ll say more about those another time.
Mistletoe Information: for general mistletoe info visit the Mistletoe Pages website.
And for UK mistletoe books, cards or kits to grow your own mistletoe visit the English Mistletoe Shop website at englishmistletoeshop.co.uk
The December issue of BBC Countryfile magazine is now out – and there’s a 6-page feature on mistletoe and its traditions. Nicely-written. Though perhaps, as the author, I shouldn’t say that.
There’s a screenshot of a couple of pages below – but you’ll have to buy it to read it.
Mistletoe Information: for general mistletoe info visit the Mistletoe Pages website.
And for mistletoe books, cards or kits to grow your own mistletoe visit the English Mistletoe Shop website at englishmistletoeshop.co.uk
My recent post about the new mistletoe-eating bird in Borneo reminded me of several other exotic (to us in Britain) mistletoe stories. One particular story from last year came to mind – a project in New Zealand where local residents were being given mistletoe seeds in an effort to re-establish local mistletoe species.
The project, based in Christchurch, involved the collection of seeds by local ecologists and then the doling out of 20 seeds each to local volunteers, for them to plant onto suitable hosts, especially in gardens. Participants were asked to monitor their seeds to assess success, or failure.
It’s a curious concept – but one which has echoes over here – I’ve worked with many UK conservation groups trying to get mistletoe established in parks and nature reserves –mainly in the east of England, where our mistletoe is relatively uncommon. Including some very well-known parks and a few palace gardens. And of course I’ve been involved in garden mistletoe plantings for many years, both directly and through provision of mistletoe grow-kits online.
The trick, which will probably apply to NZ as well as UK mistletoe, is to remember where (i.e which branch, and whereabouts on the branch) you planted the seeds and to be patient, as initial growth is slow and it may be several years before you get a growth of any size. I’ve lost count of the number of people who write to me, several years after planting, saying they are astonished to find their mistletoe is growing – they assumed, because they had overlooked the initial small growths, that they had failed, but actually they’d been very successful.
I’m not sure how quickly those NZ species grow – but having looked up the story again I see that 2018 was the second year of the project – I wonder whether that’s a reflection of the same problem, establishment after just one year is difficult to assess, so people try again. Although, on reading the news story published in 2018 it seems that 200 new plants had been recorded as established the year before, so perhaps those NZ species establish more quickly than ours!
The Christchurch project was led by Kristina Macdonald, an ecologist with Christchurch City Council – there’s a video with her explaining the project below. Note that she stresses the value of the plant for gardens – both as an attractive plant and as a resource for other species. For info on the original 2017 initiative click here and for the 2018 follow-up click here. As far as I’m aware this project is now completed.
You don’t have to be in NZ to grow mistletoe in your garden.
Try it in the UK with a Mistletoe Grow-Kit from the English Mistletoe Shop
Details at https://englishmistletoeshop.co.uk
Some pictures of mistletoe in Gloucestershire Orchard Trust‘s orchards at Longney, near Gloucester, taken this afternoon.
The berries, as you can see, are beginning to whiten up now – still very opaque and with a hint of green, but it won’t be long now until we get the full white berry effect.
Most pics are from the apple trees, some still bearing apples, but the last few are of mistletoe in the riverside poplar on the edge of the site.
Mistletoe Information: for general mistletoe info visit the Mistletoe Pages website.
And for mistletoe books, cards or kits to grow your own mistletoe visit the English Mistletoe Shop website at englishmistletoeshop.co.uk
Jonathan's Mistletoe Diary 