Peonies next in floral book craze

THE FUN of growing things is that you don't know how they are going to turn out. Publishing isn't supposed to be like that - it is often considered a business - but sometimes a miracle happens. And then everyone expects another.

In six months, The Tulip, by gardening writer Anna Pavord, has sold more than 30,000 hardbacks at pounds 30 each, or pounds 50 for the collector's edition. Literary novelists, with the whole machinery behind them, are lucky to sell 20,000 hardbacks. People are crazy about The Tulip, which is, amusingly enough, the book's whole theme.

Its success is such that this autumn bookshops will see a series of hybrids appearing on the back of The Tulip. Already, Deborah Moggach's novel Tulip Fever, has appeared. Closely following on its heels will be several works on the orchid and, in September, the peony.

Peonies, The Imperial Flower, by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall, is said to be an honest, possibly definitive work, offering valuable advice about propagation and potting-out for the armchair peony-fancier. But its author was persuaded to write something more racy.

The book focuses on Empress We Zetian who connived, murdered and fornicated her way through the 7th century. She became the Chinese Emperor's concubine at 13, arranged the murder of her baby daughter, and accused the wife of the crime. And she did like peonies. They became the height of fashion with thousands planted around the Imperial Palace. One plant was sold for 100 ounces of gold.