The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

25.2 - Andy P's task: Harvest Time

This is a two book task. Read a book that satisfies the requirements for Book 1 , and another which satisfies the requirements for Book 2.

The total page count for both books MUST be at least 500 pages.
Books which list Children or Kids as a genre on the main page may NOT be used for this task.

Book 1. Read a book written by a single author whose initials can be found in the word HARVEST. All author name part initials count. Each letter since it appears in the word harvest only once can be used only one time.

Book 2. My "harvest" this year is leaves and a few small fruits. I saved two citrus trees from almost certain death from spider mites by putting them outside on the deck of my Michigan home in late April. The first is a grapefruit tree that I started as a seed 26 years ago so no fruit on this one, but some lovely green leaves. The other is a Calamondin which I got by mail order. It has produced some fragrant blossoms and about a dozen little fruits about the size of a kumquat. I think I need to get some Ladybugs and release them in my house before I bring them inside for the winter.

In honor of my success as a very amateur gardener, read a book which has a tree with leaves* on the cover . *The leaves may be any color, but the leaves MUST be visible. NO evergreens.
OR
Read a book that has the word TREE or TREES in the TITLE. No other variations. Subtitles are excluded.
Required: Include the cover if using that option.

Reserved
For clarity,
. Evergreen are conifers( i.e they produce cones if my botany courses serve me correctly ), and the "leaves" are referred to as needles. Deciduous trees shed their leaves in the fall and grow new ones in the spring.
There are trees which don't fit either of these categories in that they make leaves but don't shed them. Citrus trees, live oak trees are common ones in the US. So, any tree with leaves on it qualifies for this task.

Another reserve

This help thread is open!

Is this tree okay? Or do you need a real
tree?

Kathy G. wrote: "Is this tree okay? Or do you need a real
tree?

"

Since it has leaves it works.
Andy

Thank you!

Is this the kind of trees you are looking for Andy?

What You See by Ann Mullen

Andy I'm confused by your comments of 'any leaves of any colour' and then 'no evergreens'? It might be because you're speaking american? To me an evergreen is a tree that never loses its leaves; it remains 'evergreen' even in winter. Did you mean that those sorts of trees aren't allowed?

For most trees on covers (if not all) I would find it impossible to identify the tree species so I wouldn't know if the tree was an evergreen or a deciduous.

Nicola, I think he is distinguishing between trees that have needles (most evergreens) and trees that have leaves, which can change colors in the fall. Evergreens tend to have a conical shape, if that helps.

Eucalypts and most other Australian trees have leaves and are evergreens. So are they allowed or not? I'm with Nicola in that I can't tell if a tree on a book cover is evergreen or deciduous except for obvious ones.

Bea wrote: "Nicola, I think he is distinguishing between trees that have needles (most evergreens) and trees that have leaves, which can change colors in the fall. Evergreens tend to have a conical shape, if t..."

Hmm, that might be true where you live (America?) but it certainly isn't where I was born. In NZ virtually all our trees are evergreen (if they are native anyway) and they have leaves rather than needles (which of course do not change colour and they retain them during Autumn).

http://www.plantman.co.nz/afawcs01382...

is this Ok even though there's no trunk visible?

Nicola wrote: "Hmm, that might be true where you live (America?) but it certainly isn't where I was born. In NZ virtually all our trees are evergreen (if they are native anyway) and they have leaves rather than needles (which of course do not change colour and they retain them during Autumn).."

Wow! I just learned something new that I didn't know. Thanks, Coralie and Nicola for expanding my world. I really need to visit Australia and New Zealand sometime (a dream of mine)!

Sheila wrote: "Is this the kind of trees you are looking for Andy?

What You See by Ann Mullen"

Yes that will work

Nicola wrote: "Andy I'm confused by your comments of 'any leaves of any colour' and then 'no evergreens'? It might be because you're speaking american? To me an evergreen is a tree that never loses its leaves; it..."
deciduous trees are those that lose their leaves in the fall (autumn) and usually turn color so many can be red, orange yellow etc in this season. Evergreen trees are those with needles not leaves and generally do not shed their leaves( there are some exceptions.) So if you have a landscape view of trees and there is snow on them best bet is they are evergreens, also usually Christmas trees are evergreens. The trees that I am highlighting in my task have leaves that are not lost in the winter and they stay green all year (but they generally are found in warm climates. . Does that answer your question?

Coralie wrote: "Eucalypts and most other Australian trees have leaves and are evergreens. So are they allowed or not? I'm with Nicola in that I can't tell if a tree on a book cover is evergreen or deciduous except..."
I think I answered your comment in regard to Nicola's comment, but if it is not obvious that there are leaves on the tree choose another book, and spare the moderators a tough decision.

Catherine wrote: "
is this Ok even though there's no trunk visible?"

Yes, this looks like palm trees whose vegetation is called leaves so that will work.

Nicola wrote: "Bea wrote: "Nicola, I think he is distinguishing between trees that have needles (most evergreens) and trees that have leaves, which can change colors in the fall. Evergreens tend to have a conical..."

I think I answered this question before but in case it is not clear the leaves don't have to be deciduous but the must be green or fall (autumn) colors in a landscape view. Evergreens have needles not leaves. The fruit trees I am tending have green leaves that are not shed to leave bare branches in the winter so if you have a cover with a tree that have green leaves, not needles it will work. If you have a deciduous tree in winter (without the leaves) it will not work.
And I do understand about the trees in Australia or Africa for that matter, We had an exchange student from South Africa one winter and she arrived in January in Michigan and she wanted to know why we hadn't cut down all the dead trees that had no leaves so we had to explain that they would have them again in the spring.

Andy wrote:Does that answer your question?."

Not really to be honest. Should we only provide covers from UK/Some Europe and Some US/Canada books, because any trees for other places will very likely be evergreens whether we can specifically identify them or not? So no covers depicting South America, Australia, NZ, Malaysia, Spain, Portugal, Africa, Macronesia, Micronesia etc etc. Basically anywhere where it doesn't snow?

Nicola wrote: "Andy wrote:Does that answer your question?."

Not really to be honest. Should we only provide covers from UK/Some Europe and Some US/Canada books, because any trees for other places will very likel..."

See message 19 answer

Andy wrote: "Catherine wrote: "
is this Ok even though there's no trunk visible?"

Yes, this looks like palm trees whose vegetation is called leaves s..."

So a palm tree, which is definitely evergreen (one of the few trees I can 100% be sure of), is ok?

Oh, I missed your previous comment Andy as I didn't refresh the page . So the actual criteria is that the tree must have leaves whether it be deciduous or evergreen - that's clear! :-).

Perhaps it would be possible to clear up the task description so those of us who don't live in those parts of the world where evergreens are apparently restricted only to pine trees(?) won't get confused?

Bea wrote: Wow! I just learned something new that I didn't know. Thanks, Coralie and Nicola for expanding my world. I really need to visit Australia and New Zealand sometime (a dream of mine)!

Green all year round (well some parts of Australia tend to be more of a dusty brown in summer...) and no leaves clogging up the stormwater drains!

But we also miss out on the glorious Autumn colours :-( And of course the lovely fresh green of new spring leaves.

I think excluding coniferous trees would make the most sense. Those are the needle/cone/evergreen trees that won't work. All coniferous trees are evergreen, but not all evergreens are coniferous sort of thing.

Is this visible enough? Or keep looking?

Nicola wrote: "Bea wrote: Wow! I just learned something new that I didn't know. Thanks, Coralie and Nicola for expanding my world. I really need to visit Australia and New Zealand sometime (a dream of mine)!

Gr..."
I have put something in message two which I hope will help.

Daphne wrote: "I think excluding coniferous trees would make the most sense. Those are the needle/cone/evergreen trees that won't work. All coniferous trees are evergreen, but not all evergreens are coniferous so..."
I have put something in message 2 which I hope will clarify matters for those of us who are not botanists.

Maya wrote: "

Is this visible enough? Or keep looking?"

I think that is good enough Have at it.
Andy

Hi, Andy, I love your task.

Found The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg by Helen Rappaport for Book 1

Book 2: Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta (trees in title)
(also trees on the cover, just a bonus : )

Andy wrote: "Maya wrote: "

Is this visible enough? Or keep looking?"

I think that is good enough Have at it.
Andy"

OH! YES! Favorite challenge maker EVER. :D

Is this enough leaves?

Is this ok? You can see plenty of leaves, but not an actual "tree"

Barbara ★ wrote: "

Is this enough leaves?"

I wish I could see the leaves better, but if you haven't got another option, I'll accept it.
Andy

Ann A wrote: "Is this ok? You can see plenty of leaves, but not an actual "tree"

"

Yes those are fine
Andy

Is this ok

I was thinking about actual trees, not just something that could be construed as a tree but if you can't find something better or a book with the word tree in the title let me know and I might reconsider this one

Can you clear up one part of your task for me? In the task you said a tree with leaves, but in message 35, you approved leaves that aren't on a tree. Are the leaves the most important part of the challenge task? Thanks.

This is a very long shot, but would this be accepted?



If you squint, you can see the tree and leaves in the back.

Just wondering if the leaves in the background are visible enough. They look like leaves to me on some parts of the trees. Thanks!

Katie wrote: "Can you clear up one part of your task for me? In the task you said a tree with leaves, but in message 35, you approved leaves that aren't on a tree. Are the leaves the most important part of the c..."

If the leaves are on a branch i.e. you have a partial view of a tree, it is acceptable. Scattered leaves on the ground are not. I need to see at least part of the tree and a branch unless it's in a vase, for example, indicated to me that the rest of the tree is there. I think I have learned my lesson about using subjective rather than objective criteria for task options however. Never again.

Alexxy wrote: "This is a very long shot, but would this be accepted?



If you squint, you can see the tree and leaves in the back."

I think you need to choose something else. There are plenty of books with trees that have leaves on the cover or you can use the word tree option which offer many possibilities.

Megs wrote: "Just wondering if the leaves in the background are visible enough. They look like leaves to me on some parts of the trees. Thanks!

"

These are too difficult to see. Please make another choice.

Hi, just making sure this will work. Thanks!

Terri FL wrote: "Hi, just making sure this will work. Thanks!

"

Yes, that is fine.

Sorry for the confusion, Andy. Thanks for the clarification!

Better safe than sorry; will these trees work?

Yes those are fine

Okay -nor sure which one I will use but please tell me if anyone of these is NOT acceptable.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Thanks!

Wanda wrote: "Okay -nor sure which one I will use but please tell me if anyone of these is NOT acceptable.

1.
2.
3.[bookcover:The Miracle at St..."

It is difficult t see the images on #3 and#5, so to make it easier on the moderators, pick one of the other three. Thanks, Andy In other words #3 and 5 won't work the others will