Oh, by gosh, by golly! It’s time for mistletoe and holly!
-Frank Sinatra
Ever since I had my first home in England, many moons ago, I've enjoyed a winter's forage around the evergreen growth in the area, gathering holly and ivy and seasonal greenery for natural decoration.
Mistletoe, though, I left to the mysterious professionals who magically mustered it up by the barrowful for winter sales in small, beribboned swags.
Growing up in the UK, we always had a sprig of mistletoe suspended from a central doorframe or light fixture. A quick kiss, be it a peck on the cheek in passing or something more romantic (when mutually agreeable) has been a Christmas tradition in the British Isles for centuries.
I never gave much thought as to where mistletoe grows and how it's harvested. The knowledge that lots of charities raise lots of money each year in mistletoe sales around the world was good enough background info for me.
It was during my research for my second book, "Fog Valley Winter" that I discovered, much to my delight, that celebrated Victorian-era American botanist, horticulturist and pioneer in agricultural science, Luther Burbank left behind a particularly fascinating find for me amidst his long-lasting and extensive legacy of more than 800 strains and varieties of flowers, fruits, grasses, grains and other plants.
Luther Burbank was of English decent. I'm sure he was raised (back East) with mistletoe in the family home come Christmas-time.
Not content with the native mistletoe here in California, Burbank introduced European mistletoe (Viscumalbum) into the Sebastopol area around 1900. Seemingly, no one took a lot of notice until a Dr. John Thomas Howell of the California Academy of Sciences first reported its introduction in scientific literature, in 1966 (the year I was born!).
The only other place that European mistletoe is found in North America is in Canada's Victoria, British Columbia.
Here in Sonoma County, European mistletoe spread around a radius of seven and a half miles from its point of introduction. It can be found today, in large, heavy balls high up in 23 different deciduous tree types in Sebastopol, Graton, Santa Rosa, Fulton, Cotati, Forestville and Occidental.
It's most commonly found on silver maple, apple, black locust, red alder and Fremont cottonwood trees.
European mistletoe is more openly branched with narrower leaves in comparison to the native plant, which has denser branching and more oval-shaped leaves.
Scientists believe that European mistletoe spread was restricted to such a small area due to the fact that to the west there is mainly coniferous forest and to the south mostly open grassland with scattered Eucalyptus groves and few potential hosts.
When Sebastopol's apple orchards were in their heyday, apple trees were pruned on a regular basis, keeping mistletoe from becoming as invasive as it is today in abandoned orchards.
Fountain of knowledge in the horticultural world, my friend Susan Villa was the one to ask about Luther Burbank's surprise gift on my doorstep in writing about European immigrant holiday traditions. Though Luther was a bit late introducing the sort of mistletoe Gold Rush era settlers from Europe were used to, late Victorian homesteaders in the area certainly would have recognized it hanging in balls from trees.
Susan knew exactly where to head out in search of an early European mistletoe haul. Take a drive around the Sebastopol area yourself and keep your eyes peeled. It's not hard to find, but it's often extremely high up and requires special tools and some strength to cut.
Great for the bees, but highly toxic to animals, mistletoe is, by tradition, not to touch the ground. The berries were not quite ripened during our otherwise successful hunt.
Here's what the wood on the maple tree branch we found looks like after the mistletoe root has been removed. Beautiful, mystical and amazing.
Many thanks to the intrepid Susan and to Ellen and Martin for being such good sports in our expedition that led into their yard!
I'm planning to have my new book in print in time for fall 2016. In the meantime, if you haven't yet read the first one, last few boxes of limited edition print versions of Fog Valley Crush are still available this holiday season.
You are having TOO MUCH FUN! Thanks for the post!
Posted by: Frankpetaluma.wordpress.com | Thursday, November 05, 2025 at 05:07 PM