Page 39 - AreaNewsletters "Dec 2020" issue

Call SOON before the NEXT snow!
• Blow-Outs
• Blow-Outs
• Winterizations
• Winterizations
QUALITY SPRINKLER
Email > normjoslyn@hotmail.com 720-350-3208
and the West—the soil and
environmental conditions
are not ideal for them. The
native Grape Holly (Berberis
[Mahonia] repens) is a good
substitute for growing your
own décor—though it’s
a ground-covering shrub
instead of a small tree! It’s
cheerful yellow owers in the very early spring are another bene t of having some in your landscape.
MISTLETOE —
These plants are parasites on trees and found through most of the world. They are culturally signi cant from Africa to India to Northern Europe. Our Colorado mistletoes are known as “dwarf mistletoe” and infect conifers. There’s not an effective treatment once they’re established, but they can be slowed with careful pruning and by thinning susceptible trees. More information can be found from the Colorado State Forest Service.
The familiar “kissing under the mistletoe” tradition is probably Norse. According to Scandinavian mythology, the god Baldr was killed by Mistletoe (It’s a long story, and Loki, the trickster god, is of course involved). As a sort of reparation, the Mistletoe was dedicated to Baldr’s mother Frîgg and was placed under her in uence as long as it didn’t touch the ground (Loki again). And so Mistletoe is hung from ceilings. And whenever persons of opposite sex pass beneath, “they give one another the kiss of peace and love, in the full assurance that this plant is no longer an instrument of mischief.”1 Persons kissing as the start of mischief is not covered in the legends.
Historically, both Holly and Mistletoe were used to
make Birdlime—a glue smeared upon twigs in order to capture small birds. This use may add another symbolic layer to kissing beneath the mistletoe: as English author G.W. Thornbury put it, “Love...is like birdlime; the more we struggle, the more entangled our wings get.”
1. Folkard, Richard. Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, London. 1884
Brought to you by Colorado State University Master GardenersSM. Contact the help desk: dcmgardenr@ gmail.com and visit extension.colostate.edu.
720-733-6935
Photo credit: Colorado State Forest Service
39
Castle Rock “AreaNewsletters • December 2020
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