Writing — Travel & Photography

Why Growing Coconut Trees in the Backyard is the Ultimate Life Lesson in Patience

April Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Life”

One to three feet per year.

Hubby and I recently planted some coconut trees in the backyard of our house in Trinidad & Tobago (you can read the full story here), but I was a bit dismayed when I looked up how long it would take the trees to grow and reach maturity.

Many websites I consulted stated that the trees will grow around one to three feet per year, although some others said it would probably be more like .5 to 2 feet per year. Yeah, patience will be a must here.

Luckily, the coconut trees we planted are considered dwarf coconut trees, so they will likely produce coconuts in four to five years if all goes well, but we shall see about that. Regular coconut trees can take more like seven to ten years to produce coconuts.

In contrast, the banana plants/trees (whatever!) we planted should grow much more quickly and reach full maturity in about a year if all goes well. We’ve already seen noticeable growth in just a few weeks’ time whereas the coconut trees look pretty much the same.

Oh well, we all have a different pace to go about life. Hubby, for instance, tends to be more speedy like the banana plants. Truthfully, I’m probably more like the coconut trees and go about things a little more slowly.

Thus, I cannot fault the coconut trees for their slowish growth. I get it… they want to savor every moment of their journey… just like me. And hubby wants to enjoy things at a quicker tempo. Nothing wrong with either as long as we get each other on that… and hubby has learned to have his patience around me as well!

This is a response to the stellar Life prompt brought to us by Sandi Parsons. Thanks for the awesome suggestion!:

Don’t forget to read stories by these wonderful photo storytellers: Vidya, Anne, B.R. Shenoy, pockett dessert, Rhonda, Dr. Preeti Singh, Erika, arun, Osan, Allisonn, Ellie, Barb, Penny, Dennett, Krasi, Sanghita