Each orchard area supported a different assemblage of orchard-dependent species, including (naturally) mistletoe, and two of the rare insects associated with mistletoe - the Mistletoe Weevil (Ixapion variegatum) and the Mistletoe Marble Moth (Celypha woodiana). 

This little band of insects means that mistletoe gives extra value, in biodiversity terms, wherever it occurs, providing habitat for species not found anywhere else.  All are considered rare and, in recognition of this, the Mistletoe Marble Moth has recently (2008) been given Priority Status in the UK BAP.

This, in turn, means that efforts are now being made to document its occurrence and work out conservation needs, and this has been led, over the last year or so, by the charity Butterfly Conservation.

This picture (click to enlarge) was taken at one of their 'how-to-spot-the-mistletoe-moth' training days earlier this year.  Note the use of binoculars (all looking in different directions!) - this is the only way to spot the larval leaf-mines in mistletoe high up in a tree.  For more about the Mistletoe Moth Action Plan click here.

Talking of the Tenbury events, here's a pic showing the rather odd scene just before the auctions begin - would-be buyers, having chosen their favoured lots, knee-deep in mistletoe next to them waiting for bidding to start.

Available in greeting card form at Cafepress (shipped from the US) or from Mistletoe Design (shipped from UK, in a slightly different format).

Have just been reviewing online mistletoe sellers - to see what's on offer this season.

Usual suspects - TEME in Tenbury (the original online mistletoe sellers, in whom I have to declare an interest), InterRose in Suffolk (who buy from the Tenbury Auctions) plus some Ebay sellers.  So far, so very similar to previous years.

But one of the Ebay sellers caught my attention more than the others - initially because they are using two of my photos, nicked (without acknowledgement) from the TEME website.  And then, on closer inspection, it was the price that drew me in.  One of their lots is a Buy-it-Now at £119.0, plus 10.99 shipping, just for a natural bough of mistletoe.  That's amazing.  Who (if anyone) would buy online at that price?  And if they do, will they send me my cut, as it'll be my picture wot sold it?

What has this got to do with mistletoe?  Well, up until a couple of years ago there was a very old apple tree in her garden, festooned with large mistletoe growths.  It was magnificent – a source of wonder to friends and neighbours, a local landmark (clocked, independently of me, by botanical surveyors in the 1990s national mistletoe survey), a regular supplier of seasonal gifts and, for me, a constant living laboratory where I could see and photograph mistletoe’s life-cycle.

This pic is just a part of it (obviously).

Have been in Tenbury Wells, Britain's “Mistletoe Capital” today to attend meetings about this year's Mistletoe Festival and about this year's harvesting.

A quick reprise for those who've not heard of all this: Tenbury Wells, a market town in north-west Worcestershire, has held wholesale mistletoe auctions, harvested across Worcestershire and Herefordshire, for over 100 years. These are the only specialist auctions for mistletoe in the UK – and the only commercial sales where you can be sure of genuine English mistletoe.

The Mistletoe Festival began about 5 or 6 years ago, when continuity of the auctions was in doubt. The idea was, and is, to broaden the mistletoe events in the town, to ensure its mistletoe season (late November through to mid December) continues. The mistletoe auctions have survived, albeit now at a rural location, and the Festival has a life of its own – with various mistletoe-related events.

The Festival events include crowning a mistletoe queen, hosting a charity mistletoe auction, visits by druids from the Mistletoe Foundation etc. This year's events are almost, but not quite finalised – which is why we were meeting today.

As usual, quite a lot of final details to be ironed out – but the main mistletoe-themed events (there are other events too) are:

• 24^th November     Commercial Mistletoe Auction I
• 28^th November      Mistletoe Management Workshop
• 1^st December         Commercial Mistletoe Auction II (including Druid Blessing)
• 5^th December        Mistletoe Day Events in town – including Druid Procession, Mistletoe Queen Crowning, Charity Mistletoe Auction, Santa Parade, Mistletoe Eisteddfodd
• 8^th December         Commercial Mistletoe Auction III
• 19^th December       Mistletoe Event at The Floor, St Michaels

Mistletoe Promotion of the Day - Mistletoe Eisteddfod 5th December

Well, with today being all about Mistletoe Events, today's promo is simply advertising the Mistletoe Eisteddfodd being run in Tenbury on the evening of 5th December. 

Titled simply 'A Different Twig', the event is being run by Cranesfield Bardic Arts.

All (including performers) are welcome.  Entry by donation.  Venue the Royal Oak, at 8.00pm.  More details here or on 01584 891130.

Too early to call so far – but the signs are there already; there's an AP story (one version here) already circulating about 'managing risk' of swine flu spread by not using mistletoe at your parties this season. Here's a quote from it:

"Party. Party cautiously," advises Dr. Stephen Morse, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. That means keep things clean, be careful with finger food, forget the punch bowl and maybe even reconsider the mistletoe.

You might think this mistletoe/flu story won't catch on (geddit?) - but it probably will. Rumour is that a popular UK daily is picking it up soon.

Oh well, Just another one to add to the usual kill-joy mistletoe advice offered by officialdom each year. Most years it's safety people worrying (unnecessarily) about mistletoe toxicity or legal advisors warning of sexual harassment claims if you dare to hang mistletoe at the office party. This year it looks like the excuse will be Swine Flu.

Remember, you read it here first!

Now, if you do kiss under the mistletoe, you might want to consider today's Mistletoe Promotion of the Day:

Mistletoe Promotion of the Day - Because you never know what that kiss might lead to...

This is probably self-explanatory.

Available at £2.09 via Amazon... 

Am aiming for daily blogging for this season – the mistletoe blog used to be a regular thing (see old threads for 2004 and 2005/6) but entries have become a bit irregular in the last couple of years.  Can I re-discover that relative spontaneity again this season? We shall see...

Oh, and 'cos I have to be a weeny bit more commercial these days (self-employed etc) I'm going to add a Mistletoe Promotion of the Day each time (well. that's the plan). Today's offering, a predictable one, is below:

Mistletoe Promotion of the Day – Fresh English Mistletoe for Christmas

Buy genuine, freshly-picked English mistletoe for Christmas from Tenbury English Mistletoe Enterprise (TEME).

TEME, based in the heart of English Mistletoe country, pick your mistletoe to order to ensure freshness, and long-life - lots of packages available - have a look and take your pick.  Orders can be placed anytime between now and Christmas (delivery date can be specified on checkout) - and the sooner the better really, so that TEME can programme their harvesting schedules...

(click to enlarge any pics)

Well, here's the news on the Galaxy Mistletoe Kisses for 2009. They are still available as bars - which were described here, and compared to Hotel Chocolat's upmarket but vaguely similar product, last year.

But this season they've gone for a fancier version too. A bit OTT on the packaging perhaps, but nicely done (resting on my unripe mistletoe in this picture) - and as before actively promoting that kissing tradition. Except, of course, that they don't provide any mistletoe, just a representation on the packet.

You might think I'd be disappointed by the picture on the packet, as it's not very accurate - and yes I am. It's the usual sloppy Christmassy artistic impression, placing berries between the leaves when they should be set in the stem axil below the leaves. A detail? Yes. But it's the botanical equivalent, to mistletoe fans, of writing Xmas instead of Christmas.

BUT, on opening the individually-wrapped sweeties all is forgiven! For there, embossed on each, is a miniature, but botanically accurate, portrayal of mistletoe.

I took this pic to prove it, just before we ate them all.

Just been watching the first of this year's AutumnWatch on BBC2, in which, amongst other stuff, they visited the Weston's Cider apple orchards in Herefordshire. Their researchers had approached me, a few weeks ago, to get info on what they could say and do with mistletoe in this feature, as there is a lot of mistletoe there. But no word since, so I wasn't sure what they might cover.

A promising start - lots of talk about the richness of wildlife in orchards, from the birdies through to the insects, and a promise of a mini-wildlife census. And, yes, a close-up of an apple tree complete with very obvious mistletoe.

But no, no mention of mistletoe at all - not even the new trendy Mistletoe Marble Moth campaign, which neatly demonstrates how species rely on each other (in this case a rare moth that lives on mistletoe, which itself lives precariously on apple trees, which are, in the orchard context, threatened).

I shouldn't grumble - they had a lot to squeeze into an hour, much more than just orchards. If you missed it and want to view it again the iplayer link is here (will only be available for a week or so, depending on the repeat day).

I was distracted, meanwhile, by Chris Packham (c 48) talking about learning about Longworth mammal traps with his biology teacher at school - which I (also c 48) did too. We clearly went to different schools - 'cos the name he gave for his biology teacher was not Terry Easter (who was mine), but maybe they had the same type of interesting maverick staff who strayed from the curriculum to do some real teaching? And then he mentioned his Physics teacher - first as Mr Greenaway and then as Greenway. Mine was a Mr Greenway too. Were they the same? Initials DAG? Also known as Aquadag (for obscure graphite colloid reasons). Whatever happened to David 'Aquadag' Greenway and Nuffield A level physics?  And how big is his bald patch now??

Back to mistletoe tomorrow - consumer (er, me) research now available on Galaxy Mistletoe Chocolate...

Have been out and about inspecting the mistletoe crop for 2009/10. 

Looking mainly in apple orchards, as usual.  In the north Worcestershire orchards I am, inevitably, distracted by the prolific crop on the damson trees in the adjoining hedgerows.  Damsons are very characteristic of this area, and it's a good year for them - lots of them and very sweet.  A very under-rated fruit.  Every garden should have a damson tree.

I spend a long time sampling damsons and forgetting mistletoe.  But today I am unprepared for damsons - and only have 2 small containers with me.  If can resist eating the contents of these whilst driving home down the M5 we might even get some damson jam this year.

Loads of berries again this year, but they're still not quite ripe.  So instead of getting those pearlescent white berries so characteristic of Christmas, all these early publicity shots have to make do with pale green berries.

*(By the way, the mistletoe retailers I work with, TEME Mistletoe, are due to go live online for the new season this week - so the season really has begun now...).

Events listings for 2009 are now on the Mistletoe Pages website. 

Principal public events are, as usual, the Mistletoe Auctions at Tenbury Wells (Tuesdays 24th November. 1st December and 8th December) and the wider Tenbury Mistletoe Festival - whose main activities take place on Saturday 5th December - aka National Mistletoe Day.

Plus the Druids' Mistletoe Foundation events and a few activities that I'm organising.  I won't list all the details here - go to the Mistletoe Pages Events list for more info. 

And also check out the Auctions website, the Mistletoe Foundation website and the Festival website.  Note that the 2009 Mistletoe Festival is being organised by the Tenbury Events Committee and so final details may not be available on the old Festival website.

I shall investigate...

This summer has seen a continual trickle of mistletoe enquiries - mostly from landowners about how to manage it and from photographers shooting Christmas promos for retailers.  The latter can be very frustrating - as what they want is mature, white-berried mistletoe in er, July.  And that's not just difficult, it's impossible.  But a lot go ahead with immature sprigs anyway - I suspect that Adobe Photoshop helps...

And, in the last few weeks I've been working on mistletoe website updates - you can see initial results at the usual places - www.teme-mistletoe.co.uk and its allied sites, plus of course my own, never-quite-finished site at www.mistletoe.org.uk.  The entry page for that is due to be entirely rebuilt soon, and all the missing bits in the Mistletoe Pages section - and all by the end of September (in theory!).  Plus a new Mistletoe Design website - with cards, posters etc.  And more on management advice etc.  I suspect these may drift into October... 

Plus there are are the media enquiries - I already have a backlog of queries from journalists working on monthly magazine articles (may already be too late for some of the December issues now) and from broadcast media planning mistletoe features for programmes later in the autumn or at Christmas. More on those another time...  

But that's all background noise really.  The main season only really begins with mistletoe events - and I did my first one of the season last night - with Holford Gardeners Group in Somerset.  

A good friendly event - only slightly marred by the computer projector dying halfway through.  This worried me, a lot, as that beast was not cheap to buy.  

So I was relieved to discover, after normal service had been restored, that it was simply the lecky running out - it just needed another coin in the village hall meter.  

For me this was part of the Mistletoe part of the London Biodiversity Action Plan (which I'm reviewing and revising at present).  For the NHM it was part of their wildlife garden scheme (which re-opened to the public for the 2009 season today) - which aims to create a little bit of British countryside, complete with native flora and fauna, alongside the Cromwell Road in South Kensington.     

Some pictures (as usual, click to enlarge) of the mistletoe demo:

First pic shows some context. For those unfamiliar with the NHM (there might be a few, though it is a famous London landmark) - it's the big Victorian job over my right shoulder.

Not your usual Victorian Gothic - this is a much more interesting Romanesque design by Alfred Waterhouse - we naturalist types like to wander around it, inside and out, marvelling at the flora and fauna depicted in the stonework, terracotta, faiance etc.  My old tutor, the late Michael Stratton would say, at this point, "what a lotta terracotta".  But that's a subject for another blog...

Second pic is a close-up of how to do it.  This is a Sorbus (rowan) (I think, this morning seems a long time ago already and I think there was a Crataegus too) and we also tried planting on Salix (willow) and Malus (apple)).

Third pic is the immediate end-result - a line of sticky seeds on a branch, labelled in case we forget where they are.  And that's it for 12 months or so...

There was no hint of the G20 demos here in South Kensington, though I did get treated as a very suspicious character by the security staff at Natural England's London HQ in Victoria Street (much closer to Whitehall) later in the afternoon - despite the fact I was there for a scheduled meeting.  Maybe I should have worn a tie and had a haircut...

So, if you've sent me an email in the last few weeks and haven't yet had a response, sorry!  Please be patient - I'll get around to it soon...

Er, that's it for now

Mistletoe activities have been ongoing throughout - but as most has been general backgroundy sort of stuff, it wasn't worth blogging about.

But since it is now flowering time I thought I should upload a few words and pics:

Britain's mistletoe flowers are not exactly stunning - 'small' and 'green' are the first adjectives that spring to mind.  But hey, they're one of the first signs of spring, if you bother to look. 

And they are actually insect pollinated - which is no mean feat for small green flowers in February.  The insects concerned are, perhaps not surprisingly, small black flies.  [I'll be saying more on other mistletoe insects later in the spring... (they are all small, but they're not all black)].

Anyway, here are some pics - the first is the female plant, with (very) small female flowers, the second is a male plant with the rather larger male flowers:

A tale of birds, sticky berries and a new experience in our garden...

Background:

Mistle Thrushes, named after their fondness for mistletoe berries, are the main 'vector' of mistletoe in the UK.  They are one of the few birds that recognise the white berries as edible, and put up with their stickiness.  But they are inefficient, gorging on the berries, swallowing them whole and excreting the undigested seeds, still in a sticky slime, at random.  If the thrush turd [did you know the latin name for a thrush is turdus?] lands on a tree branch any seeds lucky enough to stick may germinate - but most hang below in a slimy string and are doomed to failure.

Blackcaps, another mistletoe specialist, are more efficient, as they wipe each seed direct from their beak - but they only overwinter in quantity in continental Europe - where, unsurprisingly, they are considered the main mistletoe vector. 

New stuff:

Now in recent years we've had a growing overwintering population of blackcaps in the UK, especially around here, in the Severn Vale, where mistletoe is happily plentiful.  So there are some interesting possibilities here - of more efficient mistletoe seed distribution/planting.  No-one can say what this might mean for the amount and distribution of mistletoe.

But exactly how efficient are they?  Well, we've just found out, by piling up cut mistletoe on our garden picnic table (where else?) to see if we can tempt our lone local overwintering blackcap to partake.  He's played hard to get until the last few days, preferring the apples on the bird table, and shooing all the other birds away (impressive considering his small size) but yesterday he started on the mistletoe...  and is doing so well I'm beginning to worry for all our trees and shrubs, as he's wiping those seeds off everywhere.

And how efficient is he?  Well, have a look at the pics below - all are absolutely genuine blackcap mistletoe seed plantings, and I'm stunned at how good he is.  No shrub is immune - the close-ups are on false acacia (a good host) and the wider shot showing 4 seeds (2 in focus on the near branch and 2 just out of focus behind) are on buddleia (not a good host). 

If he carries on like this we may have to ration the supplies - the picnic table is covered in mistletoe at present, so there's a lot more to plant yet!  But perhaps it's better to have a blackcap feeding on mistletoe there than the alternative - a few weeks back a sparrowhawk used the same table to sit on whilst calmly dismembering a goldfinch (well it is designed for picnics...)

They've been very clever with some media stories about people's experiences of mistletoe kisses, with similar wording but regionally varying stats being quoted in local papers across the country.  I'll try and get access to the data if I can.

And there are some mistletoe kissing trivia at their website too - worth a look there if you're keen to learn how to kiss and kissing etiquette.  Or you can just watch this video - is that really Boris and David on the bikes at the end?  Boris' hair looks just slightly wrong, but the David C chap looks reasonably convincing, though I assume the graininess at the end is deliberate and intended to help the deception.

For a mistletoe-kissing video with slightly less success for the mistletoe-bearing main character try this version from the streets of Ipswich.

I've been getting a few queries recently about mistletoe on oak - and where to obtain it in Britain - and this ad, from last Saturday's Times, may be the reason. I'll say more about it below.  But first some background on mistletoe on oak...

The short answer to these queries about where to get oak mistletoe in Britain is that 'you don't'.  Mistletoe is incredibly rare on oak here, and doesn't grow well when it does occur. 

This simple state of affairs is complicated/confused by several factors, mostly relating to either its rarity, or confusion over its frequency...

In rarity terms mistletoe on oak evokes the druidic traditions of the sacred mistletoe on the sacred tree - referred to by Pliny in his writings about the British Druids.  This leads neatly on to beliefs - ancient and modern - in the 'special powers' of mistletoe on oak.  I won't go into those now.

In simple botanical terms the mistletoe on oak is the same as the mistletoe on any other host in Britain - and not really 'special' at all, just a curiosity.  The few documented mistletoe oaks in Britain today have very small mistletoe growths, showing that this is, in effect, a really poor host for the plant.  Indeed many of the 'British' mistletoe oaks are actually non-native oaks, more susceptible to mistletoe growths than the native varieties (more on that below).  Botanists (and others) guard the secrets of mistletoe oaks, and do not publicise their locations (though most are easy to find if you know how...).

The whole situation is confused by a naive belief by many that they have mistletoe on oaks in their local area - almost always based on incorrect tree identification (most turn out to be limes, horse chestnuts etc).  This view isn't helped by the regularity (abroad) of other mistletoe species on oaks in other countries.  So mistletoe on oak is fairly common in the USA but that's a different mistletoe and different oaks.  And there's a Central European mistletoe that likes oaks too - but it's not evergreen like our northern European mistletoe so it doesn't 'seem' right, and isn't the true mistletoe of legend.

And then there's the medicinal angle - where the German/Swiss institutes that make anthroposophic mistletoe medicines (for complementary cancer therapy) use our mistletoe species from a specific range of hosts, as they consider each host to impart a different biochemical contribution.  They actively encourage mistletoe on oaks to ensure they have an oak mistletoe element in their medicines.  They do this by finding susceptible oak varieties - ie varities more likely to grow mistletoe than others, and then actively cultivating it.  (i.e they grow 'ordinary' mistletoe on 'special' oaks, not the other way around).

So what is this ad about?  Short answer is I really don't know, though I think I know who the 'private gentleman' is.  It's not clear whether he wants material for propagation or simply to make into some medicinal brew etc.  But the price seems ridiculously high, and I can't see how he can be sure he won't be neatly ripped off with 'ordinary' mistletoe from a more common host.

If he really really wants oak mistletoe that badly he should be looking to the continent, where there is an organised cropping system, and/or if he really really wants to grow it, he should be thinking susceptible oak tree/grafts of susceptible oak tree limbs and simply using 'ordinary' mistletoe berries - as that's the way to do it.  There's plenty of advice on that sort of thing available if you have a legit cause and ask the right questions of the right people, here and abroad.  But that information would only be given out for good reason, not just for money.

It's an odd story, and seems to be a hammer to crack a nut. 

It may seem a little funny too - but it isn't harmless - I am really worried about possible theft and vandalism from our few mistletoe oaks that could result from this.  It doesn't seem a very responsible way to go about sourcing this material. 

Two apparently conflicting stories about mistletoe in the media in the last few days - one about a glut of mistletoe, and one about a shortage.  Confused?  Well much of the media is, but actually there's no conflict at all.

The 'glut' as reported in recent blogging and in several recent papers (the Observer and the Daily Telegraph 2 weeks ago and the Mail on Sunday today), is all to do with the abundance of berries this season - making all the female mistletoe that's cropped very attractive and marketable.  After all, the sprigs need berries to allow kissing:  A berry should be removed, according to old traditions, for each kiss, so lots of berries = lots of kisses.  A glut is good, and we have a glut.  Definitely.

(Of course the male plants don't have berries - a point which should be obvious, but one which I have to point out worryingly often!)

The 'shortage', as reported in, amongst others, yesterday's Telegraph, relates to a developing crisis in mistletoe management - where the old apple trees that support most of the cropped mistletoe are either being lost as they grow old and die and aren't replaced, or are becoming overgrown by unmanaged male mistletoe and dying before their time.  Which equates to a shortage in, say 20 year's time.

Now maybe I'm a bit biased here, as I helped promote both these stories, but, er, why is this causing confusion? 

There's a glut now and a probable longterm future shortage.  Easy isn't it?  Maybe not - have a look at this distorted version of the story in Blatherskite, a news blog that claims to tell the 'inside story'.  [Note to Blatherskite team: Could try harder on this one guys.]

 

A good mistletoe day in Tenbury Wells today - Mistletoe Queen crowning etc etc, Mistletoe Tea being drunk in the streets, Charity Mistletoe Auction, Oklahoma Mistletoe linkages, loads of media interest, all topped off (for a few) by a Druid mistletoe ceremony...

A bit busy/too knackered to say much on this just now -some pics (mainly of the Queen crowning etc ceremony, and the Charity mistletoe Auction) below - click to enlarge.  Will add some explan text later...

That's loads we've been cropping from the trees, and heaving through muddy fields, and filling up cars (those berries get everywhere...), and then dispatching round the country. 

It's hard work - as a load of mistletoe can be very heavy....

Today was no different - up at sparrowfart (aka dawn)  to do some local radio interviews on, er, mistletoe, and then off to the second Tenbury Wells Mistletoe Auction of 2008.  No pictures today - in too much of a rush.  Quick chat with a few traders, including Nick from InterRose in Suffolk, here to buy stock for his online mistletoe delivery service - which is one of the few direct competitors to Tenbury's (and partly my) own Teme Mistletoe online service.  We have a brief chat about the online mistletoe business, as one does.

But I have to rush off to pick mistletoe - on behalf of Teme Mistletoe who have a lot of orders to service this week.  The current orchard for harvesting is up above Knighton-on-Teme, through the farmyard, past the dog we've been told not to touch (not sure what happens if we do) and through the field you really really do need wellies for.  Reg (79 and 3/4) is already there, up a tree, shouting down that yesterday's haul could have been better and so we'll have to do some better quality control today...

So we sort as we go, only taking the best stuff as far as the cars, and worrying about the rest a bit later (tomorrow probably!).  Today's haul is going off to places all over the country this afternoon, via the magic of TNT Next Day Delivery.  From the tree to the customer in a day, how's that for freshness!

Some is off to a hairdressers in Essex - small sprigs as gifts for customers. But the bulk of today's crop is off to a chain of garden centres - I won't say which chain, but if you know the name of Harry Potter's helpful house-elf you'll have a good clue.

Later this week there's mistletoe going to other garden centres, lots of private customers and for some weekend weddings.  And this is just the first week of December...

But before it gets packed I have to rush off again, leaving Alec and Reg to pack the boxes back at base without me.  I've got the mistletoe-hungry media to satisfy as well and have been fielding calls from various contacts all day on and off.  This can get a weeny bit tiresome after a while - but media work is fun work too - and gives me an excuse to get out to sites I've not seen for a while.

This afternoon its a recce for a well-known BBC TV countryside prog - more on that next week - and my choice of venue is Teddington, just east of Tewkesbury, where Simon and Rebecca have been doing their own version of mistletoe marketing from a neglected fruit farm orchard since last December.  More on that later too - all I'll say for now is that Simon has just got back from London having delivered a big load of his mistletoe to Covent Garden Market today... 

And then it get's dark, so it's time to go home and read the emails and listen to the voicemails. 

Back to Tenbury first thing tomorrow...

Got some spare dosh? 

Not worried about the credit crunch? 

Looking for a private mistletoe-themed romantic encounter for just you and your mate?

Look no further - for December only the London Eye are including a 'hand-tied sprig of mistletoe' in their £299.00 Cupid's Capsule package.  I hope it's British mistletoe.

It also includes 'a romantic Private Capsule, complete with a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Champagne and a luxury box of Charbonnel et Walker pink champagne truffles, served by your host'.  So there's a bit more than just mistletoe for your 300 quid.

But a 'host' - does that mean there's someone else in there with you, watching?  Could put people off a bit.

Not yet convinced?  Well the package also includes exclusive check-in and fast track boarding.  And there's 10% discount if you book online.

A pic of that mistletoe sculpture I mentioned in yesterday's blog...

The stainless steel structure was made by sculptor Steve Blaylock - who is pictured kissing his wife Rachel underneath it (I hope it's securely tied...) at RHS Harlow Carr.  The pic (click to enlarge) is by Richard Doughty and borrowed from http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk

So am just reporting on a couple of mistletoe trivia points today.

Tasteful trivia:  Harlow Carr, the Royal Horticultural Society's garden in Yorkshire, has just taken delivery of a mistletoe sculpture.  Made by Steve Blaylock, a metal sculptor who's done work with the RHS before (at Chelsea), the installation is described as a giant stainless steel Mistletoe bush.  Sounds impressive - I'll try and get a pic to add here... 

(oddly enough, whilst visiting Harlow Carr in summer 2007, we noticed they had a new 'winter walk' of winter plants but no indication of any intention to grow mistletoe, a classic winter plant.  Perhaps I should send them some seeds in February? But I may also have to show them how to grow it - the official RHS guidance on how to grow mistletoe is rather naive and inaccurate - they picture seeds being planted on a main trunk (it really only works on young branches) and persist in that old wives tale about cutting flaps in the bark (unnecessary and counterproductive).  Perhaps they should stick with the stainless steel version, or perhaps I should try harder to communicate with them?)

Less tasteful trivia:  I'm told that the recently released Four Christmasses movie, a comedy about a couple who are forced, for the first time in years, to spend time with their 4 parental families (both have divorced parents) uses the word Mistletoe quite a lot. But only as a codeword for exiting uncomfortable or awkward situations with embarrassing relations/inlaws. I just hope it doesn't set a trend...

Today was the first of this year's wholesale auctions at Tenbury...  will add more text later, though nothing particularly new to report other than to review prices etc...

But here are a couple of pix for now, showing Nick Champion starting the mistletoe lots..

Lots of news reports over the weekend about the 'bumper crop' of mistletoe we've got this season, many quoting me as saying how good the berry crop is, and how this'll keep the prices down - which is good for a 'credit crunch Christmas'.

All this sounds very good but I think I must highlight two caveats:

• Firstly the expected low prices (to be confirmed, or not, at the first mistletoe auction of 2008 tomorrow) largely apply to wholesale mistletoe. 
  
  This may be easily passed on to the retail mistletoe market if you're buying plain sprigs sold at the greengrocers but...
  ...if you buy pre-packaged mistletoe from a florist, or online, bear in mind the main costs for those are preparation, handling and shipping.  These processing costs are the same or higher this season - so that mistletoe will be much the same prices as last year.  Sorry!
  

• Secondly I did qualify my comments on the berry glut slightly, pointing out that although there were lots of berries, the foliage is looking a bit reduced and scraggy and the sprigs are not quite as good-looking  as you'd think, even with all those berries...  (This snippet was omitted from the reported story in the papers.)  So the market may differentiate between good-leaved and bad-leaved mistletoe this season, instead of good v poor berries.  We shall see...
  

Spent today with the Colwall Orchards Group, doing some mistletoe management.  Colwall is a village (actually a group of small hamlets – Upper Colwall, Colwall Green etc etc) towards the south end of the Malvern Hills on the left-hand (western) side.  Which makes it just in Herefordshire.

The orchards group there  is a relatively new one, who have been reviewing the state and status of traditional orchards within their patch over the last year or so.  Key figures in the group include Helen Stace of Natural England, who spoke about their progress and plans for conservation and management of their orchards at the Sheffield Orchards Conference back in September (see previous blog entry). 

Also from Natural England is Tim Dixon, who I last met many many years ago on the Pocklington Canal – when he was being paid by English Nature (as was) to make the case for the protected sites alongside and within the highly biodiverse and then unrestored canal corridor and I was being paid by British Waterways to (reluctantly) try to argue a case for restoration for boats not doing any harm...  Which is a comforting reminder for me of why I resigned.  We agree not to dwell on past events, and talk about mistletoe instead…

Now, why manage mistletoe?  Isn’t it ‘rare’ and all that?  Well, no it’s not rare, not round here anyway.  And rare or not, management is the best way to conserve it, especially in apple orchards – which is what I spoke about at the Sheffield conference (see comment above) in September.

So, today was a day of bashing mistletoe to help with mistletoe and apple tree conservation.  The main difference between what we did today and most mistletoe work at this time of year is that we pruned/cut out both male and female plants.  This is fundamental to good mistletoe management – most people these days just prune the female, as that has berries and they can use it/sell it at Christmas – but doing that dooms the tree to becoming more and more overgrown with the (relatively) valueless male plants – which is not a good thing in the long term…

There’ll be more on this story (I hope) in the press this season – but for now here’s a link to the paper (that outlines this issue) I presented at the Sheffield Hallam conference on Orchards and Groves: Their History, Ecology, Culture and Archaeology back in September.

And here are some pictures from today...

Even in apple orchards much mistletoe is out of reach...