(22 Jul 2009)  
 
Dr. Frank Leith Skinner papers

Albion. Rosa laxa hybrid, shrub to four feet, leaves firm, dark green leaflets small, buds cream opening to double white flowers, flowers throughout the season.

(19 Jul 2009)  
 
Miscellaneous note among Frank Leith Skinner papers - no date

Some were the first flowers I tried to improve in hardiness by breeding and at that time I had no facilities for growing roses under glass. None of the garden roses that I was able to secure in those early days would ripen their fruits out of doors so I was compelled to use Rosa rugosa and our native roses as seed parents. Betty Bland was the first worthwhile hybrid that I raised using the native Rosa blanda as seed parents and Captain Hayward as pollen plant. Capt. Hayward is one of the hardiest of the H.P. roses that we have grown at Dropmore and that probably accounts for the fact that Betty Bland is hardy throughout Western Canada.

(22 Jul 2009)  
 
Dr Frank Leith Skinner papers

Butterball . Rosa hispida hybrid, shrub to six feet with prickled arching branches that are covered with large creamy flowers in season. Small spinosissima type of foliage. Introduced 1950.

(27 Mar 1951)  
 
Personal correspondence. From A.K. Grimmer [deceased Jan 1956], Mayor, Town of Temiscamingue, Que. Canada March 27th, 1951 to Frank L. Skinner.

I am very much interested in your comment on the Chamcook and Granny Roses. Like yourself, I find that Granny Rose grows twice as tall as the Chamcook rose. I can give you the following details regarding the Chamcook Rose, but I am writing to the man from whom I got the Granny Rose to give me any notes he can regarding it. The Chamcook Rose was in existence on a property which my grandfather bought from a man locally known as Squire Wilson at Chamcook in 1840. This rose continued to bloom and multiply from that day until I removed a specimen to Temiskaming about 1938, and since it has been set out here it has multiplied into quite a large clump. We have taken off specimens to send you, and have given them around to others interested. Two years ago we had a man who had a mania for pruning. In the fall of 1949 he cut the Chamcook Rose back badly. As a result, we did not have any bloom in 1950; but the plant itself seemed to prosper and become more rugged as a result of this pruning. I believe the original rose is still in the same location at Chamcook, N.B. as it was when I took the specimen away that I brought here.

(1967)  
 
Horticultural Introductions 1967. Research Station, Brandon, Manitoba:
Rose Cuthbert Grant (58180901) 1967. (Crimson Glory x (Donald Prior x r. arkansana) ) x Assiniboine. This vigorous rose grows to 3 feet in height. Foliage is large and clean. Large blossoms are borne in clusters of 3 - 6 on new growth in July and late summer. They are dark red in color with 15 firm petals. At Brandon the tops winterkill but regrowth is rapid from the lower stems. Softwood cuttings root freely.

(1935)  
 
Miscellaneous Note - Frank L. Skinner approx 1935 - [no photos]

Rose Dorothy Fowler (Rosa rugosa-acicularis x spinosissima, double white). A bush up to 3 ft. with foliage that shows the influence of all three species involved; flowers 3 - 3 1/2 inches across, very fragrant, soft clear pink in color, flowering during June. The coloring in the photograph is not very good. In this photograph are also shown two blooms of R. blanda x blanda-Clothilde Soupert. These are rather dainty little flowers, quite fragrant but rather thin in the petal. (Where two Rose names are used in the pedigree as Blanda-Clothilde Soupert it means that one parent was a hybrid between the two varieties named.)

(7 May 1966)  
 
Personal correspondence - Robert Simonet to Frank L. Skinner:
Thanks for letting me know that one of my Roses got a Gold Medal in Holland and that it has been named Dr. F.L. Skinner. You certainly deserve the Honor but I am still a bit doubtful that the Rose deserves it - at least for our climate. Please note it is a 1st generation hybrid of "Joanna Hill x R. altaica". I never got anything of value in its F2 seedlings but I have used it extensively in further crosses with H.T. x Laxa and H.T. x suffulta hybrids with very fair results. I have also used it as seed parent to pollen of Percy Wright's "Hazeldean" and last year one of the seedlings made a very fair showing. Flowers open yellow and fade to cream but they are more double and of better form than the seed parent "Dr.FL Skinner", and quite a bit hardier. It also had a tendency to repeat although I would not say true everblooming. It might well be worth introducing if no bad fault shows up on further testing.
For my own purpose I have tagged it "Jaidean". Under separate cover I am sending you scions of it and also scions of "Dr. F.L. Skinner" which Mr. McNeill tells me you lost your plants of.

(22 Jul 2009)  
 
Dr Frank Leith Skinner papers

Dropmore Yellow. Rosa lutea x R. hispida, glossy spinossisma type foliage having a sweet briar fragrance; flowers rich yellow, seasonal bloom.

(12 Mar 1938)  
 
Personal correspondence from Dr. Frank Skinner to L. Kellie, The Globe and Mail

A hybrid of Rugosa-accicularis with an unrecorded pollen parent has given me a fertile plant with good red flowers in clusters throughout the summer. This variety grows about 2 ft. high is hardy and quite fragrant. Mr. Davis saw it in 1936 and thought it quite promising. It has since been named George Will.

(27 Mar 1951)  
 
Personal correspondence - From F.G. Robinson to A.K. Grimmer.

I have no horticultural genealogy for the "Granny Rose". All I know about it is that when my father, mother and I were marooned by a wash-out near Bury, Que. in 1900, we were quartered with a most pleasant gentleman on his farm. Around his house, at the end of June, there were masses of Granny Roses blooming. My mother admired them; and in the autumn he sent her at Saint John, N.B. some roots.They thrived and multiplied, and are still blooming in the garden there. From these I cut roots which did well in Calgary, Alta.; in Lachute, Que.; at Montreal; and now at Vaudreuil on Lake of Two Mountains near Montreal. It is named "Granny Rose" for my mother. It is a strong grower and multiplies by sending out runners which thrive if about 6" of root is retained when transplanting. Usually a bush grows to a height of about 4 to 5 ft. Immediately after blooming I thin out the canes, leaving only the strong ones and cut the remaining canes back to about 3 ft. These head out into new branches before the frost. I do not protect them in the winter. In the spring there is frost kill-back of 6" or so. I leave this until the bushes are well headed out in the spring, and then cut out the frost killed tips. These roses are greedy and like a lot of compost and bone meal.