Frank Leith Skinner, whose lifelong vision was a land rich in trees, shrubs and flowers, introduced 248 species of plants to the region, 144 of which were new, improved varieties.
Born in Scotland in 1882, Skinner and his family settled in the Dropmore area north of Russell, Man., in 1895.
He described the area, 400 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, as “one of the northern outposts of favourable settlement” and an ideal testing ground for developing hardy strains of plants. Despite its rich clay loam, the area is subject to extremes of temperature, little precipitation, strong drying winds and only 90 frost-free days per year.
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By 1900, the young gardener’s flowers began attracting the interest of neighbours. After contracting pneumonia and losing part of his right lung, Frank focused his efforts on gardening, leaving his brother, William, to tend their farm’s cattle.
Skinner joined the Manitoba Horticultural Society in 1909 and, despite his remote location, began corresponding with others in the profession around the world and acquiring a collection of books on the subject.
His hybridization efforts at the Hardy Plant Nursery that he established in the 1920s paid off in rapid-growing, drought and disease-resistant shelterbelt trees such as the Dropmore elm, which he introduced from Manchuria, as well as hybrid poplars and hardy cherry, plum and apple trees.
With a twig from Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum, Skinner propagated the Prairie’s first hardy pear and in 1922 developed the first non-suckering lilacs using French and Korean stock.
He was an early advocate of plant patenting, which he believed would encourage more co-operation between breeders and nurseries, but his efforts to create a system protecting plant breeders’ rights during his lifetime failed to bear fruit before his death in 1967.
His son, Hugh, an author of two books on horticulture, continues to operate the nursery. He described his father as a man devoted to his art, working from dawn to dusk developing and testing new plant varieties.
Hugh said that one of his father’s best-known plants is the Dropmore scarlet honeysuckle, a climbing vine that blooms throughout the summer.
He added that a nursery buyer from British Columbia once told him he had visited an enormous operation in Germany that was churning out the variety – three million at a time.
“He didn’t see a nickel from any one of those,” Hugh said with a laugh. “He never really gained a lot of financial satisfaction from what he did, but he did gain lots of very good friends and recognition from many people and institutions.”
Skinner was perhaps best known for his work with lilies. A cross between Korean and Chinese varieties won him the Cory Cup from the Royal Horticultural Society in Great Britain in 1933. This achievement was followed by a long list of honours, including Member of the British Empire in 1943 and Manitoba’s highest honour, the Order of the Buffalo Hunt, in 1967.
