Christmas books by classic author describing flowers (5,7)

'flowers' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'christmas books by classic author' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'books' could be 'annuals' (annual is a kind of book) and 'annuals' is located in the answer.
'author' could be 'hardy' (Thomas Hardy) and 'hardy' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'describing' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?