Tough Nut to Crack! (But it did and now there’s a tree growing!)

Not only is Andros Island, Bahamas a place where they say May We Be Strangers No More, it is also a place with some tough nuts, coconuts! My husband (current resident of Blue Door 711) inherited a few when he moved in over there. They (the coconuts) were in a ring around the small ornamental tree outside his door. I suspect the original reason for putting them there (by a previous 711 resident) was to protect the little tree from the mowers and also for aesthetic reasons. Most of my husband’s neighbors have rings of rock, coral, conk shells, or driftwood around theirs.  Although not as fancy, at least the unhusked coconuts had weathered to a nice shade of gray that didn't look too bad but obviously pointed to the fact that they’d been there for quite some time.  Then one day we spotted what looked like a sharp green spear shooting up from one of the coconuts. It was the first many leaf (fronds) that have followed one after another. We put our (not so) tough nut into a pot (with only the bottom half covered in soil) parked right outside our door where it can happily commune with the other tough nuts while it waits for them to crack. (My husband keeps telling them jokes, but all he’s managed to do is crack himself up!) Actually, under ideal conditions, it can take anywhere from 3 to 6 months for a coconut to germinate. Our little coconut palm can remain in the same pot for 5 years and grow to be 5 feet tall, tall enough to have a trunk.  And live happily (and ideally on Andros) ever after!