Josef J. Halda was a botanist at the Botanical Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences prior to starting his renowned seed-collecting business. Traveling throughout Europe and Asia, he has collected mostly alpine-plant seeds for sale to gardeners throughout the world. He has become an expert on several plant genera of horticultural importance, including Primula, Daphne, Gentiana, and Paeonia, writing monographs on each one. His wife, Jarmila Haldová, an accomplished illustrator of children's books, makes his plants accessible with her distinctively beautiful, botanically accurate drawings.