Albert J Porter (Bert)

Parkside, Saskatchewan
1901-2000

A teacher, supplemented his teaching salary during the depression by selling nursery stock for a company in Estevan, Saskatchewan. When deliveries couldn’t be paid for he would plant the stock on his property and thereby began his own nursery in 1934. Main interest for the first 15 years was development of numerous hardy fruit varieties (strawberries, raspberries, crab apples, plums, currents, sand cherries, gooseberries, currants, hazelnuts and rhubarb).

Owner of Honeywood Lilies and Honeywood Fruit Farm and Nursery which operated for 65 years. The catalogue first listed lilies for sale in 1940 with the single and double forms of L. lancifolium offered. Percy Wright sent him some lily seeds and bulbs in 1948 and asked him to try them; this kicked his lily interest into high gear. Began his lily hybridizing efforts with C.F. Patterson and I. Preston material. The first price list devoted to lilies came out in the fall of 1954. By the 1970s, several thousand bulbs were being shipped to buyers in Canada and internationally.

Partnered with Alan Daku in 1980. Alan took over in the nursery when Porter retired in 1990 at the age of 89 and ran it for a few years. Three of his favorite lilies were ‘Earlibird; ‘Flaming Giant’ and ‘Happy Thoughts’. Worked very closely with the University of Saskatchewan to carry on work begun by C.F. Patterson. Also grew and introduced lilies on behalf of hybridizers Percy Wright, Robert Simonet, John Barber and Ed Brooman.

Awards and Recognition

  1. Winner of Stevenson Memorial Gold Medal Manitoba Horticultural Society, 1963 (for conspicuous achievement in the field of practical horticulture)
  2. Certificate of Merit Saskatchewan Horticultural Society 1968, for outstanding contribution to prairie horticulture
  3. President of the Saskatchewan Horticultural Societies Association 1968
  4. Massachusetts Horticultural Society Gold Medal, 1969 (for outstanding contributions in the hybridization of lilies)
  5. E.H. Wilson Award North American Lily Society (NALS) 1971
  6. Western Canadian Society for Horticulture Award of Merit, 1971 for two outstanding lily introductions, ‘Orange Light ‘ and ‘Redland’.
  7. D.R. Robinson Award Saskatchewan Horticultural Association 1975
  8. Stuttgart, Germany Garden Festival Silver Medal 1977 for a collection of Honeywood lilies
  9. Honorary Doctor of Law at University of Saskatchewan 1983 (for his outstanding contribution to horticulture on the prairies and for his dedication to community service).
  10. Received the Rural Municipality of Leask Appreciation Award and the Parkside Community Silver Platter in 1983.
  11. Inducted into the Saskatchewan Agriculture Hall of Fame in 1987 (in recognition of his commitment to developing hardy plants for the prairies).

He also received many life memberships:

  1. Saskatchewan Horticultural Association (1955)
  2. Saskatchewan Nursery Trades Association (as well as being a founding member)
  3. Walter Willoughby Horticultural Society (as well as being a charter member)
  4. Canadian Nursery Trades Association
  5. Saskatchewan Institute of Agrology
  6. Western Canadian Society for Horticulture (as well as merit awards)
  7. Canadian Prairie Lily Society (CPLS) (as well as being a founding member)

Accredited NALS judge.

The CPLS gives out the A.J. Porter Awards yearly at its show for the best Canadian hybrid.

Honeywood Heritage Nursery at Parkside, Saskatchewan, purchased by a group of concerned people in 1999 has been established to preserve his hybridizing efforts and his legacy. In 2001 it was designated as a Municipal Heritage Site in the Province of Saskatchewan and a Provincial Heritage property in 2007. In 2005, the site won the Prairie Garden Award for Excellence.

“Honeywood is a place of peace and tranquility, a haven where a rich horticultural history has been rejuvenated and renewed” (Barbara Adams Eichendorf. NALS Yearbook, 2010).

Excerpted from “Canadian Lily Hybridizers and Their Lilies – A Working Garden Reference” by Leanne Dowd
Photo courtesy of Honeywood Lilies