Creating Beautiful Spaces | Skinner Garden Store
Photos by JENNIFER GOETZ
If you were to drive by Topekan Cameron Rees’ house and see his yard, you would know immediately, as he puts it, “somebody that lives there has a little bit of a gardening bug.”
It’s a spot with lots of wonderful plants and deep roots. Just like the business he runs, Skinner Garden Store, 4237 NW Lower Silver Lake Road, the local place for “plant people” who want to create beautiful spaces in their home and yard.
“We’ve been doing this for a long time and helping a lot of people in the process,” Rees said. “So, there’s probably evidence of something that came from us in a lot of yards around here.”
Rees, who is general manager and co-owner of Skinner’s with his wife, has been involved with the business since the early 1980s and in his current role since 2009, taking over for his dad, Jack Rees.
A LOCAL LEGACY
Skinner Garden Store, which began as a wholesale nursery in the Kaw River Valley in 1886, added a retail garden center in 1956 that prospers today just off of U.S. Highway 75 in North Topeka, offering thousands of varieties of high-quality plants ranging from trees to shrubs to grass as well as ground cover, vines, perennials, roses, and vegetables. They also offer gifts, pots and yard art.
Joseph Henry Skinner planted the nursery in the late 19th century. Today, the Skinner family legacy lives on both with the name of the garden center but also through fifth-generation plant expert Jim Skinner, great-great-grandson of the original founder. Jim Skinner worked and helped run the wholesale nursery for many years until it closed in the early 1990s. Since 1992, he has worked at the garden center, and today runs the landscape side of the business, bringing a lifetime of nursery experience to that role.
Rees and his team of 15 to 30 staff members — depending on the season — offer services that include landscaping, design, installation, delivery and potting. Have a great idea for your yard? The team at Skinner’s can help make it a reality by delivering and installing it at your house, and they won’t leave until it’s the way you like it. Want assistance with plants for inside or on your porch? They can turn it into an “expertly potted mini oxygen factory” so it’s ready to thrive in front of your eyes.
Another cool thing Skinner’s does that you might not find at a big box store is spend a lot of time crafting good signs for all the plants and other products with color pictures so people can read easily.
“We write them, so it’s good, practical, grown here in Topeka, Kansas information,” Rees said.
HELPFUL PLANT EXPERTS
If you’re like many plant noobs, it all can be very overwhelming. Luckily, Skinner’s has all the answers for you, both in-person and on their website, and the crew vows to help you with any of your needs. The staff is classically trained, has practical knowledge on how to do things, and above all, in addition to being plant experts and/or horticultural nerds, they’re good at talking to people, Rees said.
Skinner’s does an e-newsletter every two weeks called “The Dirt” that contains gardening tips, business updates and plant/product information. You can subscribe to it on the Skinner’s website.
Additionally, Rees hosts a weekly radio show year-round from 8-9 a.m. every Saturday called “Garden Answers” on WIBW 580 AM/104.9 FM. It’s done live, and he takes phone calls and texts during the program. Rees has been involved with the program since about 1990, but the show was originally started by former Skinner’s owner/general manager Don Roepke in 1967. Rees said he’s been told it’s the oldest continually airing program on their radio station.
“I would strongly encourage anybody that’s a little overwhelmed or confused to just ask questions. Whether it’s from us or from a friend that seems to know what they’re doing, just don’t be afraid to ask questions,” Rees said. “We’re out there for a reason. I’ll help folks all day long, and they’ll apologize for taking up my time. We want to spend time chatting.”
PLANT SEEDS WITH OPTIMISM
Rees, who is kin to the owners of Rees Fruit Farm in Topeka, said one of the coolest things about the plant business is that gardens aren’t typically full of crabby people.
“Flowers generally make people smile,” he said. “People that want to garden want to spend time doing things like that, generally are pretty positive, optimistic kind of people. Which kind of makes sense. If you’re willing to take a stab at planting a seed in the ground and letting it grow into something or take a little bitty transplant and turn it into salsa or the other great things you’re going to make, you got to have a little optimism that’s it’s going to turn out all right.”
Whatever it is, there’s plenty of room to be creative when growing plants and making your space unique to you, Rees said.
“We can help. We can provide ideas and knowledge and plants,” he said. “Every space is different, just like every home is different.”
Want to have your yard or area be the talk of the block for the creative beautiful vibes it gives off?
“Even if it’s just a pot of flowers on the porch or a little tomato plant on the back patio you start figuring it out,” Rees said. “And each time you do something, you’re going to be that much better at that aspect and that much more prepared to take on the next one.”
