Mistletoe

Four years ago I bought some mistletoe seeds plus instructions on how to try and get them to grow on various trees and so we had a try and 'planted/introduced' 21 on the underside of the various branches.Over the years we have looked to see if anything had taken then yesterday I looked up into the large bramley apple tree and low and behold there were about 6 green leaves coming from the bare bark. I was excitedly suspicious! Binoculars confirmed a small cluster of mistletoe, no berries yet but a beautiful little sprig. I felt really excited and wrote this verse for a wassail I had previously written for the apple tree around the time I first introduced the berries. "Mistletoe in-the apple tree, wassail you and wassail me, here's to bird and man and fruit and all the health-y shoots." I've searched high and low in the other trees around the allotment but haven't spotted any other little sprigs.

Congratulations Sonja,

You have had a propagation triumph! It is wonderful when you get results from gardening projects years after you have started them. I was really excited a couple of years ago when I saw a red-berried mistletoe in Spain. It is called Viscum cruciatum, and looks just like our native species, except for the berry colour. I hope your sprig prospers!

Emma.

gardenersworld.com

I have driven past steert tree not very old planted in the verg next to the road with mistletoe growing on them,Some have been planted in the last 10 years,I dont think it is anything to do with age more like the trees that birds rub the seeds off there beaks on to remove the seeds from the fruit,

Hello Oldchippy,

I agree with you, once mistletoe germinates, it seems to be able to form foliage within a few years. A student at Kew Gardens carried out an experiment, to see if he could propagate it. The Malus trees on which he placed the seeds did not bear mistletoe but a nearby Crataegus monogyna (hawthorn) developed a new clump which was monitored closely. I salute anyone who succeeds in propagating it in their own garden!

Emma

gardenersworld.com team

I haven't propagated mistletoe myself, as there is no need here in the West Midlands where I live.    So many of the trees are festooned with it.    It seems to like apple and hawthorn trees, but also others too.    I hunted for some for cutting for indoors but by the week before Christmas, the birds had had most of the berries.