John Wallace

Through his lifelong dedication to finding, testing and breeding better plants for northern latitudes, John Wallace significantly improved the lives of northern Albertans. He was consistently a promoter of better varieties of horticulture and better techniques for cultivation. John Wallace introduced hundreds of plant varieties to northern Alberta. 

He discovered the saskatoon varieties named Pembina and Smoky.  The Smoky saskatoon variety occupies about 95 percent of the commercial acreage of saskatoons in Canada. He selected, developed and named the Protem strawberry; the only recommended hardy variety for the northern half of Alberta. He is also responsible for breeding and developing the tomato variety, Early Yellow, which was the breakthrough leading to Beaverlodge subarctic tomatoes.