Robert M Erskine

Rocky Mountain House, Alberta
1914-2003

Had an early interest in gardening but wasn’t able to pursue his passion till after WWII when he acquired land and began ranching. He was a voracious reader and thereby developed an extensive knowledgebase. Worked to develop improved cherries, currents, peas, potatoes, gooseberries, raspberries (‘Honey Queen’) and apples (‘Carlos Queen; ‘Leafland; and ‘Alma Sweet’). He also developed 20 different varieties of hardy roses that are still grown, and another 20 that have disappeared. ‘Prairie Peace’ was his favorite.

Developed a friendship with Fred Tarlton and they discovered a mutual interest in martagons. Hybridized and named/registered Asiatics as well as martagons. His initial experimentation with Asiatics were with Patterson hybrids. His overarching goal with all hybridizing was improvement of prairie winter hardiness with equal or superior qualities to the parent plants. Some of his martagon material was acquired from the University of Alberta Botanic Garden in the form of open pollinated seed. Was a mentor for Madeline Hollo­way in her lily breeding infancy and be­ came so close to the family that he lived with them for his last 10 years. John Holmes in the ‘picture with Erskine is Made­line Holloway’s son. He would plant in a fashion on his land such that visitors felt they were discovering secret gardens as they explored.

The Southern Saskatchewn Lily Society (SSLS) established the Robert Erskine Award for the first place stem with the most buds and blooms in his honour. In an interview with a reporter from The Mountaineer newspaper of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Erskine commented “Raising lilies is like raising race horses. You will get one good one in a batch and the rest of them are useless”. (Andrea Johnson, “Lilies are the Love of His Life”; The Mountaineer, Tuesday, March 14, 2000).

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