Now, in The 4 Seasons of Veronica Read, he chronicles a year in the life of the woman who keeps Britain's official collection of amaryllis lily varieties in her West London .
The Burbank onion and potato; the giant amaryllis; the crimson winter rhubarb.
In her merchandising days at Penthouse, Steel learned to recognize a hot product, whether it was a phallic amaryllis plant, Gucci-labeled toilet paper (her own invention) or, later .