Dr Frank Leith Skinner
Frank Skinner immigrated to Canada from Scotland with his parents in 1895, at the age of 13. At that time, the area surrounding what is now Skinner’s Nursery was completely bare of trees, and from the upper story of the Skinner home, the settlement of Saltcoats, SK could be seen approximately 40 miles directly to the west.
The family ranged cattle from Dropmore to north of the Boggy Creek post office, an area with no fences. Spending hours on horseback with the cattle, Frank Skinner became interested in the plants and flowers native to the wild prairie. This interest in plant life led him to develop plants hardy to the climate of North West Prairie Region.
Visiting Frank Skinner Arboretum Trail
Experience the history of horticulture on the Canadian Prairies.
Learn about Dr. Skinner’s role in introducing and breeding hardy plants for the Prairies.
Enjoy the natural environment, gardening, trees, bees, birds, native plants
Lilacs and Memories
This is a memory jar. It came to me in the 1970s and has been filling up with memories for almost 50 years. I have even dug up and stored some older memories in this jar. Memory Jar - holding my memories since 1975 It came to be [...]
Happy Birthday Frank Skinner
In the late 1990’s I wrote a short story from a vague memory that I had of my father’s last years. My mom, Helen Skinner’s response when she heard this story was “That is not how it was.” And she was right. "The Gardener" was the way I visualized an [...]
The Big Lawn
Although I can’t imagine why Frank Skinner would have thought he should make a big lawn and I can’t imagine what happened on the big lawn before the 1950’s, the big lawn is a very central part of the Arboretum and of my childhood memories. I would love to hear [...]