Manitoba Heritage Council Commemorative Plaques

Frank Leith Skinner (1882-1967)

A self-taught horticulturalist, Frank Leith Skinner lived and worked in Manitoba's Dropmore District, where his family moved in 1895 from Scotland.

Here he studied the flora of Manitoba and experimented with adapting plants to Manitoba's growing conditions. By 1924 Skinner's hardy new strains of ornamental fruit trees, a fast growing popular hybrid suitable for shelter belts, and a wide variety of chrysanthemums, early blooming lilacs, roses and lilies were being distributed widely, enriching the prairie landscape.

He was recognized by horticultural colleagues. In 1943 he was made a Member of the British Empire and in 1947 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Manitoba.