Skogerboe sows lasting legacy of historic plants

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

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Scott Skogerboe is on a mission to locate and save important plant species deeply rooted in history but disappearing to time.

He has preserved the lineage of the apple tree, the species that purportedly prompted formulation of the law of gravity when its fruit nailed Isaac Newton on the noggin. He acted as a modern-day Johnny Appleseed, by tenaciously seeking out a cutting from the last living tree sown by the legendary orchard planter.

"If I can find the story behind it, that's what I want to know because it excites me," Skogerboe explained. "I love the history. I love the plants."

In addition to the fruit trees that originally occupied most of his attention, Skogerboe works ceaselessly to find and foster other plant species with less star-quality but equal distinction. Currently he has a particular affection for shrubs and cacti he's growing in a sharp new greenhouse.

A great white yucca he adopted, for example, rises incongruously to a height of 20 feet in the front yard of his north Fort Collins home. He also has located a bur oak found only in Wyoming near Devil's Tower, an Arizona cypress similarly found in only a tiny area of New Mexico, a filbert tree up Buckhorn Canyon closer to home, and an impressive but unrecognized trilobed sumac in Poudre Canyon.

"I'm obsessive. I just keep going until I find things," Skogerboe said. "If we want these plants, we have to go out and find them."

That obsession is apparent as he leaps from his seat to retrieve well-worn notebooks or obscure horticultural texts that fill the living room bookshelves.

The passion for horticulture grew from Skogerboe's lifelong love of nature. He clearly recalls being deeply moved when his father took him to see the progress of a tree he planted on the day his son was born 47 years ago in Ames, Iowa.

Skogerboe moved here at 10 when his father, Rod, accepted a position as a chemistry professor. He attended Colorado State University on an athletic scholarship but quit after two years, when it became apparent he was not well suited to the academic life.

A five-year stint in the Army followed in which Skogerboe served in various medical capacities as an EMT, surgical assistant and emergency room staffer at NATO headquarters in Belgium.

He taught himself how to graft while stationed in Mons, where he also secured a hoard of classic enameled advertising signs that adorn his house. The house also sports a brand new array of solar cells. A committed, hybrid-driving conservationist, Skogerboe takes great joy in watching his meter run backward when the cells produce more electricity than needed.

He returned to college in 1991 following the Gulf War and endured the academic agony long enough to complete his horticultural degree. Skogerboe said his insatiable quest for knowledge about historic species made him a "library rat" and perhaps the top user of interlibrary loans of specialized tomes written by esteemed breeders.

Working summers at Fort Collins Wholesale Nursery to support his frugal lifestyle, Skogerboe developed a plan for starting a business growing edible plants specifically suited for this climate for sale at farmers' markets. The enterprise didn't pan out, so he returned to the nursery, where he has worked for the last 11 years.

When he's not working propagating 300,000 trees and shrubs annually, Skogerboe is pursuing his favorite pastime of seeking out elders to harvest their knowledge and leads in locating the best plant varieties to breed.

"I couldn't just buy them, I had to get pieces of wood from the old-timers," he said. "I just kept calling and calling."

Using the knowledge and varieties he has accumulated over the years, Skogerboe also is developing plant varieties that he's convinced one day will at last make him and his family wealthy. This hardy stock is taking root on his three-acre property. Other plants are dispersed at his parents' homes, his former residence and other sites. He still has access to most of them, but if not, Skogerboe is glad that the owners still nurture and nourish the wild creatures.

He's also working with other volunteers to lease and save the High Plains Arboretum, where his mentor Gene Howard once served as superintendent. The research station east of Cheyenne was established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1929 to develop fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants and windbreaks best suited to the harsh High Plains climate. But operations were greatly reduced, and since 1974 the trees and shrubs have relied strictly on natural precipitation. Since then, according to Skogerboe, 70 percent of the plants have died, many of them unique. Others are the last living specimens and are just barely hanging on, he said.

"The plants that have survived are great," said Skogerboe, a determined man dedicated to assuring that such greatness continues.