Is mistletoe friend or foe?

Carolyn Saft Contributor With the holidays approaching, I thought about the tradition of hanging mistletoe. As a horticulturist, I am perplexed about the glamour surrounding mistletoe when it can kill a favorite tree. Unlike Spanish moss and lichens, mistletoe is a parasite that feeds off other plants; mistletoe survives and grows at the expense of its host by taking nutrients and water from the host plant. While trying to understand the fascination with mistletoe, I learned that the ancient Celts viewed it as a sacred plant with life-giving powers because it remained green and bloomed in the winter. Hmmm, I prefer gardenias or camellias. During the Middle Ages, mistletoe was hung in ho