Mistletoe in Norwich

[Spro...@aol.com]

Hi All

 

We visited the mistletoe in norwich at the weekend to see it on loricera syringiantha (shrubby honeysuckle) the honeysuckle is growing in a crab apple, Mr Ellis Marks planted the two together about 25 years ago, he first succeeded with the mistletoe on the crab apple a (John Downie) with berries from a colleague at the John Innes institute, the first bunch was a female but no berries for several years until he succeeded in getting a male to grow to pollinate the female.                        

 

He has about three bunches on the honeysuckle, & the crab apple is now full of mistletoe, also it has spread to the nearby allotments.

                                                                                                                                     There is mistletoe in Norwich but not near enough to pollinate. 

 

Rod Chapman.

[Jonathan Briggs]

Hi Rod,

Very interesting record... must get a grid-ref from you for it.

Have just been checking out my latest mistletoe seedlings in the
garden - have planted berries on cotoneaster horizontalis, rowan,
standard roses and (the wild card) broom, this year. The Cotoneaster
and Rose attempts are regular exercises - every year for the last 3 -
and usually the seeds vanish, taken by birds or grazed by snails as
the host plants are low on the ground. But so far so good this time -
about half of them are intact and germinating - mustn't be too
optimistic though - still time for them to be grazed off - but
mistletoe can grow on all these species - except perhaps broom
(Cytisus).... On the broom they've survived well, but no sign yet of
germination. I've no knowledge of it on broom, so this is just an
experiment - but it is a quite woody broom, and mistletoe is very
happy on False Acacia (Robinia) so obviously can grow on leguminous
shrubs. We shall see.

All my current garden mistletoe is young, as we only came here 6 years
ago. The best growth so far is on, unsurprisingly, apple, though
Robinia comes a close second. I also have some 1 year old Phoradendron
(American mistletoe) seedlings - on a variety of hosts - more about
those another time, I'm hoping for the first true leaves this year.

Cheers

Jonathan