Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Inspiration

Plant of the week: Mistletoe, a parasitic plant with a romantic tradition

Rebecca Wolken
By

Is it Christmas time if there isn’t any mistletoe hanging on a door? As plant lovers, it’s sometimes easy to forget that these holiday plants like mistletoe, Christmas cactus, and others are actual plants that grow in the wild. And in the case of mistletoe, it’s a unique plant with a rich history and a modern twist that’s bound to make a few people blush each season.

So if you’re here to learn more about this plant and maybe find out if you can grow it in your home, then you’ve come to the right place!

mistletoe growing on a tree

What is mistletoe?

First, let’s talk about what kind of plant mistletoe is; this holiday favorite is actually a hemiparasitic plant. This means that it lives off of other plants, often apple, lime, hawthorn, or poplar trees. However, it only gets its water and nutrients from the host plant since it can make its own food with its green photosynthesizing leaves; that’s why it’s hemiparasitic. The seeds are pollinated in a few ways, but often what happens is a bird will eat the plant, get a seed stuck on its beak, and will then rub it off on a branch where the seed will germinate and begin to grow on the tree. Because of their parasitic nature, mistletoe can be a harmful plant, especially to apple orchards. The plant can get so big and take too much from the host and kill the tree. As you can imagine, this is devastating to an orchard.

Related

The history of mistletoe is long-standing and spreads across many countries, nations, religions, and cultures. In Greek mythology, it was used to access the underworld, but it was a sign of love, peace, and understanding to the Roman people. The Celtic people used to view it as a sacred plant, and pre-Christian Europeans considered mistletoe a symbol of romance, vitality, and fertility. But no matter what you believe, there’s no denying this plant is gorgeous.

hanging mistletoe decoration

Care tips for mistletoe

To grow mistletoe at home, you’ll need a host plant, and while this isn’t hard to do, it can be tricky to perfect the host/parasite balance required to keep both plants alive and healthy. So let’s go over what it needs to thrive so you can try to grow this lovely plant yourself.

Water

The parasitic nature of mistletoe means it will take whatever water it needs from the host plant that it’s growing on. So to provide it with enough water, you’ll have to be sure the host tree has enough water. This could prove to be a tricky balance. You’ll want to give the tree more water than you typically would, so there’s enough for both the tree and the mistletoe, but you don’t want to overwater it and risk root rot. So pay close attention to your host plant to ensure you don’t mess up the watering.

Light

For a healthy and happy mistletoe plant, you’ll want to provide it with ample bright and direct sunlight. They’re used to being high in trees and getting a lot of sunlight throughout the whole day. Be sure wherever you plant the host tree is sunny, and if growing indoors, find a bright, south-facing window to ensure it gets enough sunshine.

Food

Since mistletoe gets its food from the host plant, you’ll need to make sure the host gets plenty of fertilizer. To ensure both plants are happy, look into what the tree needs to thrive and apply it a little more often than you usually would. Watch out for signs of overfeeding, and keep checking on both plants to see if they’re showing signs of needing more food. The host plant will likely show signs of distress first since mistletoe will suck what they need from the tree.

Temperature

Mistletoe is very hardy and will survive in extreme conditions even up to negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit; you’ll likely need to worry more about the host plant.

Toxicity

It’s crucial to note that mistletoe is poisonous to both humans and animals. While it’s improbable to cause death, it’s not worth the risk. So even if you’re not growing it in your home but plan to use it in decoration, you’ll want to be sure that no curious kids or pets will be able to reach it. Some of the symptoms of ingested mistletoe are blurred vision, fever, hallucination, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, slowing heart rate, and has even been known to cause miscarriages in pregnant women.

So mistletoe isn’t the easiest plant to grow, but it’s a pretty plant with delicate berries, and if you can grow it yourself, you have free Christmas decorations! Just be sure you’re caring for the host plant as much as or even more than the mistletoe plant, and keep it out of the reach of kids and pets.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
6 air plants that make for the perfect air-purifying indoor plants
The most common air plants and how to care for them
A person holding a bowl of air plants

You might have seen air plants at your local plant shop and wondered what they were, and you might have even thought they were faux foliage. What kind of plant can live without soil, anyway? But you've probably seen them enough times on your Instagram feed that you might wonder if you're missing out. Air plants are trendy and unique plants that shouldn't be ignored. Ahead, we're going to talk about why you need an air plant and discuss our favorite varieties.

Why you need an air plant
Air plants, or Tillandsia, are lovely little plants that rarely get bigger than 8 to 12 inches. These tiny plants are low maintenance, need no soil, and are easy to care for as beginner plant parents. Plus, air plants are resilient, pet friendly, and have long life spans! The tiny or microscopic hairs on their leaves are used to suck up water from the air and capture harmful chemicals and toxins, making them genuinely air-purifying indoor plants.

Read more
7 easy patio plants that will thrive into the cold winter months
Try out these no-fuss plants to add some life to your porch this winter
Wintergreen basket

When it comes to easy patio plants, there are a few questions you need to answer first. What plants do you like to grow? How much space do they need? Can you keep them outdoors during winter, or do they need to be brought inside? If you don’t have much indoor space but want to make year-round use of your patio, here are some winter plants you can grow that will fare just fine in colder climates and provide some much-needed greenery to your outdoor space.

It’s important to remember that just because a plant exists doesn’t mean it’s suitable for a container. (Try to imagine that large oak tree in your yard growing from a pot — impossible, right?) The ones that will thrive in container gardens, whether indoors or on a patio, have shallow root systems and small mature sizes, or they can be kept small with pruning and trimming. Let’s look at some of our favorites to add some color and life to your porch or patio this cold season.

Read more
Focus on color: Red plants that will bring a festive vibe to any home or garden
Plants that feature joyful red foliage and flowers
Cyclamen

During the transitional period between fall and winter, there’s nothing like a vibrant red plant to infuse your garden with festive cheer. As the weather becomes grayer, brighten up your landscape with a splash of scarlet or burgundy. There are plenty of plants with delicate red blooms as well as those with striking red foliage. From the low-maintenance burning bush to the ubiquitous poinsettia, here are seven festive red plants to grow for the holiday season.

Cyclamen
Cyclamens often hit your local garden centers during the holiday season. This delicate tuberous plant features marbled or matte green leaves with butterfly-shaped white, purple, pink, or of course, red flowers. It blooms during the fall and winter, then goes through dormancy in the summer, during which its foliage dies down. It's hardy down to 23 degrees Fahrenheit, but it does best around 50 to 65 degrees — consider bringing it indoors during the winter. With this plant, you’ll want to provide adequate bright indirect light for blooms. It also appreciates being watered deeply once its soil dries out, but be careful with overwatering during winter.

Read more