Florence Hurtig was born in New Orleans in 1906 but later moved with her family to Oregon. She trained as a pianist, but the Depression of 1929 prevented her from following that career. She began to grow plants for sale about this time, and gradually developed a passion for Primroses. She researched the subject in Oregon State University and published a resulting series of articles in the Oregon Journal. This led to the founding of the American Primrose Society in 1941, and she became Editor of the Society for the following 9 years. Simultaneously she developed her plant propagation and sales business as Barnhaven Primroses.
She met Bob Bellis and married him in 1959. Afterwards she was known as Florence Bellis. Her business continued to flourish until Bob's death in 1966. Florence withdrew from the business at this time and sent her stock of seeds to Jared and Sylvia Sinclair in Brigsteer, England. They continued the business until 1989. Florence died in 1987.
Florence Bellis sent her seed stock to the Sinclairs in 1966 to "keep or kill". She would have destroyed the stock rather than allow the commercial seed companies to have them. She wanted to return the stock to England, where they had originated and chose the Sinclairs to carry on the work. For the Sinclairs this was an unexpected turn of events, but Sylvia had a horticultural degree, and both she and Jared fell to the task with enthusiasm. Gradually they built a reputation for quality in gardening circles.
As well as maintaining Florence Bellis's original lines, they introduced many of their own new strains. These included Ramona, Rustic Reds, Mexico, Reverie, Flamingo, Paris 90, Midnight, Daybreak, Limelight, Fuchsia Victorians, Harbour Lights, Valentine Victorians, Yellow Cowichans, and Casquet. They worked extensively on the double auriculas, and practically restarted the single auriculas and the julianas from scratch. Their greatest achievement is the new strain of primula sieboldii which remained Jared's favourite.
They announced their retirement in 1990 to the dismay of their wide circle of gardening friends, customers and admirers. Sadly, Sylvia died in 1996 and since then Jared has died in July 1998.
Angela’s parents moved to Brigsteer, and as a result of her own hobby gardening and their location, she came to know the Sinclairs. Over a period, they introduced her to the intricacies of Primula and Polyanthus breeding , and when they decided to retire, they passed the business to her. Angela and her husband Keith spent some time looking for a suitable location in England to carry on the business, but eventually they found the location which most suited them near the village of Plouzélambre in Brittany. They moved there in 1990 and continued to produce primula seed of the highest quality while developing the breeding programme for another ten years, at which time, due to health reasons Angela reluctantly had to step down.
Having worked with Angela over a long period, and in the process having become hooked on Barnhaven primroses ourselves, David and I were asked to take over the reins, in the summer of 2000. Being close at hand, Angela will still have input into the breeding programme for some time to come.
We will continue to rigorously select and hand pollinate the plants in the manner of our predecessors to maintain the pure lines and to introduce new strains. We now operate from a new site at Keranguiner, Plestin Les Grèves. Visitors are always welcome.
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