Mistletoe tree mystery Round and About • Round & About Magazine

Round & About

All Areas, Featured, Home & Garden, Round and About

Have you ever wondered if you can grow mistletoe in the garden? Cathie Welch of Cathie’s Gardening School shares her thoughts

I questioned this when I saw a lovely specimen growing on a relatively small tree. It is such a familar sight around the country on enormous trees and cut for Christmas of course. So why do you never see trees for sale with mistletoe on them?

Mystery of mistletoe

It is something I have tried to grow several times and failed realising quite quickly it’s harvested too early at Christmas and the seeds have not developed inside the white berries. It is very prolific in huge popular trees and I have seen it on apple trees in clients’ gardens. Birds love the sticky berries and when they pass through them are rubbed onto branches where they can germinate. There are male and female mistletoe plants so are dioecious like holly. It is only the female that has the berries but needs a male plant for fertilisation. Mistletoe is a parasite and although it can photosynthesise in the green leaves it also needs other nutrients from the host plant.

Christmas magical mystery tour

One day before Christmas my husband took me to collect my Christmas present. I had no idea where we were going until we arrived at a farm near Chelmsford advertising mistletoe trees! We were taken to choose our specimen and found a beautiful pink flowered hawthorn with several mistletoe seedlings already growing in it. So my passing question about why you never see trees with mistletoe on them had been answered.

Growing your own mistletoe

It’s not easy and often all the birds have eaten the berries! The seeds are not ready to germinate into the tree until spring and the small shoots coming out of mine are about three years old so it takes time. Also as the mistletoe and tree grow together you don’t want the mistletoe to take over and it will need pruning.

Find these amazing trees at Mistletoe Trees. There is a wealth of information and a warm welcome from Henry who is extremely knowledgeable on the subject. I am delighted with mine and my students will be learning all about mistletoe propagation in 2025.