Peonies the Imperial Flower - Hardcover

Fearnley Whittingsta

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297824244 ISBN 13: 9780297824244

Publisher: Trafalgar Square, 1999

Synopsis

With 200 colour photos, illustrations and plans this book celebrates the beauty and influence of the peony and its place in art and history as well as providing comprehensive information for gardeners wishing to choose and grow the right variety for their garden detailing their fragrance, colour, flowering periods and hardiness.

About this title

Review

Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall's Peonies is a ravishing book--the sort of book that you covet from the moment you see it--but it isn't just lovely to look at, it is also a wonderful read. It tells the long and fascinating history of this most beautiful of flowers, tracing its origins in the wild to its cultivation in the Imperial gardens of China and Japan and its journey to the West. The characters encountered along the way include an empress who arranged for the planting of many thousands of tree peonies, yet murdered her baby daughter and in her 70s took two brothers half her age as lovers, and a French missionary who spent most of his life in China collecting over 1,500 species of peony, most of which were sent back to France. As befits its subject, the book is lavishly illustrated with paintings and photographs that are both informative and appealing.

But this is not just a wonderful story well told. It is also a serious work of reference giving comprehensive information on peony varieties, how to grow them, where to find them, and where to see them. It's written with the international reader in mind, so references include information relevant to the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand as well as Great Britain and Europe. --Stephanie Donaldson

From the Publisher

With their dramatically showy flowers, peonies are among the most sumptuous blooms in the garden. These lush perennials work their enchantment every day of the year in this gorgeous-and practical-full-color gardening book. Award-winning garden designer Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall provides advice on planting 200 varieties of peonies; extensive lists detailing size, flower shape, and color of both tree and herbaceous peonies; garden plans; and a Top Ten list selecting peonies for fragrance, cut flowers, autumn color, early, late, and long flowering, robustness, and much more. With stunning illustrations and information on peon ies' history around the world, their depiction in fine and decorative art, and their use in 20th-century gardens created by Gertrude Jekyll, William Robinson, and other notable designers, Peonies will delight gardeners everywhere. 200 photographs in full color 733/8 x 933/4" Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall's garden designs have won awards at England's renowned Chelsea Flower Show. Author of several garden -ing books, she lives in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, England.

About this edition

• Publisher: Trafalgar Square
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0297824244
• ISBN 13: 9780297824244
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384