Sisal

The Stalk of the Sisal that grows the seedlings is what I use as my Christmas tree! Got these lovely photos from The Lawns Hotel http://www.lawnshotel.com
Tanzania has sisal plantations. The story goes that 62 seedlings were brought and were used to start the plantations.

My stalk had seedlings in every little bracket. They started falling off as the stalk dried, they had little roots too!




This is what the plantations look like. More often the sisal plants along the borders are allowed to mature and the stalks grow nice and tall with the seedling sprouting out.





Young plants.





Harvesting.





Drying the fiber.

The stalk is fibrous too and very light. My mother carried is about a 50 meters and it was 6ft or more tall to her 4:11''. She brought it for me after making arrangements with the gardener of Mt. Carmel Convent to cut it for her. Several sisal or jute as it is called in India are growing wild on the hillside.

Each year during the monsoons, I fret over it, as am afraid it may develop mould but it comes through. Just need to dust it often. This year I shortened it by about 18 inches. I think its a manageable height now.