Author: Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall
Series: no.- She's written other books though - gardening, book books, history
Genres: Plants, Adventure, Gardening, History
Short summary of the story: This book is all about peonies. Ms. Fearnley-Whittingstall starts out with peonies of the past -- where they were found, their history in China and Japan, how they were presented in art and gardening in the Oriental countries, and how 'the West' found them. The places around the world that native peonies can be found are listed, and the reasoning for 'why' of the different species are where they are is speculated. Then the locale for growing peonies switches from Europe to the New World - mostly America and Canada but also New Zealand. Really good advice is given for the growing of peonies, and which kind might live in the area in which you yourself live. (For example, tree peonies will survive and flower in a much warmer area than the herbaceous -- but the herbaceous will thrive in Canada even if uncovered in the wintertime.)
Mention is made of other books written by other authors. I'll close this section with a particularly fine quote from Alice Harding's Peonies in the Little Garden "Owners of small gardens are often fearful of having insufficient room for this stately subject [peonies]. I think that they do not realize how much pleasure comes from the possession of even half a dozen plants, or three, or two -- or just one."
Good points / bad points: I could write more and more but ... read the book! If you are interested in growing peonies, or in history, or in a book which has very fine adventure stories, this is a wonderful read. It's not a book that I read in one sitting; there is a lot of information in the 369+ pages of it. I checked it out from the library as I'm very interested in gardening and wanted to find out as much as I could about the beautiful Peony. I liked it so much that I ended up purchasing a copy for my own library.
Goodreads has this
Peonies are spectacularly beautiful, tremendously popular, and easy to grow. This exquisite book provides a wealth of information and much useful advice for gardeners everywhere.
