BARNHAVEN POLYANTHUS


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The Original Silver Dollar Polyanthus

HARVEST YELLOWS Introduced in 1939 the direct unadulterated descendants of Miss Jekyll's Munstead strain. A regal shimmer of gold, ivory, orange, lemon, buttercup, canary and mimosa yellows. Heavy with scent.
DESERT SUNSET Introduced in 1958. Descendents of Linda Eichman's 'Warm Laughter'. A riot of coral, apricot, salmon, shrimp, begonia pink, champagne, maize, burnt orange, salmon and prawn red shades.
SPICE SHADES Chocolate, coffee, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and hazelnut browns, with the occasional acid yellow. Introduced in 1953, and still being poked, sniffed, caressed and disbelieved.
GRAND CANYON Copper, bronze, gold bronze, old gold, tile red, rust, tangerine and ramona. Glint of the sun on desert rocks.
INDIAN REDS Warpaint in crimson, scarlet, vermillion, cherry, guardsman, and orient reds.
WINTER WHITE Introduced in 1939 and perpetuated along with the Harvest Yellows from the Munsteads. Gold centred whites many with beautifully serrated petals.
THE VICTORIANS
VIOLET VICTORIANS Wood violet, parma violet, royal purple and velvety plum, damson and bilberry shades.
CARNATION VICTORIANS American beauty, carmine, cerise, hydrangea and carnation pinks, some edged with silver.
MAUVE VICTORIANS Mauve, lavender, pink orchid, orchid, lilac, porcelain, cattleya and heliotrope with a frothing of white.
OLD ROSE VICTORIANS Rose shades from the deep, burning and passionate, through the bright and frivolous to the gentlest sugar-mouse pink.
MUTED VICTORIANS Exotica in lavender, violet, blue or buff, smoked with gray or frosted with sepia. Slightly taller than average.
STRIPED VICTORIANS Predominantly blue and violet with cream, dusky pink and smoky peony shades, all veined and striped like Japanese irises.
FUCHSIA VICTORIANS Fuchsia reds, violet reds, light pinks, shocking pinks, deep mauves and light purples. Some are silver edged.
VALENTINE VICTORIANS Columbine, maiden's blush, and rich crimson pinks, some with startling white centres. More compact in growth than the other Victorians.

Specialities

MARINE BLUES Introduced in 1944. French, Prussian and oriental blues. Cobalt, delft, sky and navy blues. Blues of the summer seas and skies.
NEW PINKS The original strain of 'true pink' pinks made their sensational debut in 1958 and are descendents of Linda Eichman's 'Crown Pink'. Delicious wild rose and sweet pea pinks. Ethereal peach and apple-blossom shades. Bright raspberry pinks.
KWAN YIN Chinese, currant and pimento reds. Tall,dark slender stlks. Precision stamped gold star. Incomparably graceful. Never a strong plant 'Kwan Yin' was discontinued in 1965 in favour of 'Little Egypt'.
LITTLE EGYPT Introduced in 1965. Stunningly brilliant pink-brick and Egyptian red with either a very small eye or eyeless. An elegant, dark-stemmed switch of vivid, compact-eyed blooms in red, orange and pyramid brick shades.
REVERIE A ripple of butterfly and powder blues, each flower illuminated by a small, precision stamped yellow or orange star.
FLAMINGO A child of, and a perfect foil for, the Cowichans. Bright ribbon and orange pinks, soft dawn and pastel pinks with the occasional light yellow. Flowers have small, neat centres, sometimes etched with a thin red line.
COWICHAN Originally introduced in 1949 as 'Cowichan' described as "Jewel shades of ruby, garnet, light and dark amethyst, Venetian red. Often red-bronze foliage. Solid velvet color, no yellow centre. The famous eyeless strain so popular in England." The strain was the result of Florence Bellis using the pollen from Major Knocker's "Cowichan Polyanthus" on to "Kwan Yin".
It was subsequently selected into seperate colour strains:

GARNET COWICHAN Garnet, black garnet and ruby shades.
AMETHYST COWICHAN Amethyst and violet shades, some with intricate little Persian carpets where the eye should be.
BLUE COWICHAN Intense blues, some with black bee centres.
VENETIAN COWICHAN Hot pink-reds, mandarin and strawberry reds, some with black bee centres.
YELLOW COWICHAN Newest of the Cowichans. Yellow shades over bronzed foliage. Rather shorter in growth and smaller in flower than the others, but prodigious with its blooms and exceedingly pretty.

Later Introductions

RAMONA Spectacular coppered reds selected from 'Grand Canyon'.
RUSTIC REDS Gentle, ploughman-clopping-home reds. Chestnut and terracotta reds, and warm wallflower shades.
FIRE DANCE A blaze of nasturtium shades.
MEXICO Empire rose, spanish orange, cornhusk and buff yellows, rose tile and adobe shades and vivid coral pinks.
CHARTREUSE Descended from Gertude Jekyll's Munstead Strain these are of cool, elegant creamy green shading to white. Blooms often heavily ruffled.
HARBOUR LIGHTS Night on the waterfront. Startling oriental and pastel reds, smoky apricot, and vivid orange apricot, neon pinks and salmon reds.
DAYBREAK Opalescent mother of pearl and dark stemmed whites, often flushed or veined with apricot or rose pink. Most have bronzed foliage.
PARIS '90 Whites and creams with a blue picotee edge and/or reverse, and blues and mauves suffused on a white ground.
MIDNIGHT Deep blue blacks and magenta purples, some with white centres and some edged with silver wire.
VALENTINE VICTORIANS
YELLOW COWICHAN



BARNHAVEN PRIMROSES

CANDY PINKS True clear pinks - bright satin pink, soft peach, shell, salmon and baby pinks. Launched in 1958 as the first really pink acaulis and still a heart melter.
AMERICAN BLUES
or
BARNHAVEN BLUES
Breathtaking. Words fail before sheets of blue with hardly a leaf to be seen. Clean-cut, steadfast blues in shades of azure, French blue, Alice, cornflower, indigo, often silver edged, sometimes eyeless.
BUTTERSCOTCH Beautiful blends of rose and gold producing shades of rose bronze, copper, bronze, barley sugar, champagne, pink-apricot and butter yellow.
HARBINGER Great white stars. Heart shaped petals. A primrose dating back to Queen Victoria's reign. Gold centred whites, from a sport of the wild primrose found more than a hundred years ago in a Cornish wood. It was awarded a First Class Certificate by the R.H.S. in 1882.
TRADITIONAL YELLOWS Primrose yellow and gold. The wild English 'primmyrose' glorified. Moonlight yellow of the wild primrose, but with larger flowers and stronger stems.
BARNHAVEN GOLD A selection of the bright and sunny yellow golds from the original Traditional Yellows. You may catch some of the blooms wearing a naughty little petticoat of extra petals in the centre.
OSIERED AMBER Pink tinged buds and blooms of apricot, amber, and yellow with red stems and calyxes and red-bronze foliage.
TARTAN REDS Red shades of the Scottish tartans.Rich red shades, many with dark stems and foliage.
BARNHAVEN DOUBLES Introduced in 1966 these were to be Florence Bellis' last great introduction before her retirement. Though seed was only available in mixed colours, plants were available in a multitude of individual named strains:

Eugenie Mid blues, mostly silver edged
Miss Indigo Dark blue to violet
Mam'selle Light blue
Charlotte Light pink
April Rose Rose pink, some silver edged
Aurora Coral pinks
Marie Louise Salmon pink
Ethel M Dell Dusky pink
Betty Hird Orchid pinks
Suzanne Peach
Amy Castles Carmine rose often edged silver
Bossa Nova Apricot blends
Isabella Primrose yellow
Sunshine Susie Golden yellow
Forever Amber Amber yellow with bronzed foliage
Herbert Ward Lemon yellow
Misurata Approximate shade of the Nankeen Lily
John Savereaux Gold overlaid bronze
Sarah Hayston Bronze
Robin Adair Brick red
Ponteio Crimson
Chianti Venetian red
Caprice Mauve blends
Mon Ami White
Marianne Davey Cream
Queen of the Night Almost black



Barnhaven Polyanthus & Primrose seed is now available from
Lynne & David Lawson in France.



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