"Pick your own mistletoe" question.

[bboyminn]

---  "zanooda2" <zanooda2 at ...> wrote:
>
> ---  "geoff_bannister" <gbannister10@> wrote:
> 
> > It is very common for certain growers around the UK to open 
> > their land to visitors to choose their own produce to save 
> > owner the trouble of doing it themselves.
> 
> 
> zanooda:
> 
> ... I can see from Steve's post that this is common to the US as well, but I've never even heard of it :-). So ... Xeno is offering his mistletoe cheap or maybe even for free on the condition that people will gather it themselves? 
> 
> What about the second sign then, "Keep Off the Dirigible Plums" :-)? ..., then the whole thing must mean "by all means take the mistletoe, just don't touch my precious Dirigible Plums :-)! 
> 
> Of course, Xeno needs the Dirigible Plums for his thinking process - "to enhance the ability to accept the extraordinary", LOL.
>

bboyminn:

I haven't been to any famous British gardens, but I suspect that some of the better ones have thousands of visitors a year. Now it is nice for people to walk through and observe, but you wouldn't want to have thousands of feet tramping through your lawns or flowerbeds. I suspect quite a bit of money is expended on keeping the lawns manicured to near carpet perfection ... so stick to the path and 'keep off the grass'. 

Despite the Dirigible Plums being plums, I didn't get the sense that they were a tree or bush, but rather a very low growing plant. As such, some people might mistake them for a weeds and feel free to walk through what they perceive as tall grass or weeds, thereby destroying the plants that Xeno has struggle so hard to cultivate. To preserve his plants and his hard work, please don't go walking among the Dirigible plants - 'Keep off the Dirigible Plums'. 

Mistletoe on the other hand typically grows in trees, and shrubs or bushes, and is therefore less likely to be stepped on. So, no real need to tell people to 'keep off the mistletoe'. 

Steve/bboyminn