Hi Ian I live in Scotland and have used crocus for many plants .
Excellent quality plants from them you also get cash back on quidco.

Here is link for female skimmia.

http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/skimmia-japonica-nymans/classid.4383/

Hi Ian I too live in Scotland. I find a lot of shrubs are imported in to our garden centres and if you wait till they restock you might be able to find what you are looking for locally. I went in to the RHS Plant Finder website
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder. They do not have 'Foremannii' on the website and there is no mention of it ever having been there. I typed the full name in first and got no results so I just typed Skimmia on the 2nd attempt. They quote 88 suppliers of Skimmia. I clicked on that and got a list of named skimmia with the names and contact details of the supplier. I went through each name picking out the female plants and found only one supplier in Scotland. It is a Skimmia japonica at Galloway Plants of Newton Stewart. That is not too far from you but the fact that they have it at this time of year maybe suggests it is hardier than others. Nobody in Scotland is said to be stocking nymans which Scotkat suggests at the moment but it should be available later on when the GC's get their new stock in.

The trouble with Skimmia japonica is, it comes in male and female varieties, so unless you buy it with berries present, or the garden centre labels it as female, you don't know which it is when you buy it.
Kew White is female, but has white berries, Skimmia reevesiana is hermaphrodite, and does produce berries, Skimmia nymans is female, as already mentioned, and so is 'Wisley Female' but I've never managed to source that anywhere.
Note that Skimmia foremannii has been renamed Skimmia Veitchii and may be available under that name rather than foremannii.

Thanks for that Bamboo. Its a nuisance when names change but i suppose its not done without very good reason. I did check and the japonica being sold by Galloway Plants is indeed the female version. S. Veitchii is in the RHS plant finder but they do not give any Scottish suppliers. The Wisley Female is said to be available from Triscombe Nursery near Taunton. I have a Nymans as my female. If I took cuttings when should it be done and how long would it be before it flowered.

Binnys Plants in Ecclesmachan have 2 females in Stock according to their website Nymans and John Turner. Not the one you are looking for though.

A sincere thanks to all of you who have taken the time and trouble to assist me in my quest to find a female Skimmia partner. I think I may be in luck via "crocus.co.uk" and Skimmia Nymans. Just a little concerned it may be a little early to plant in Central Scotland, with, i assume many a severe frost to come and having already lost the original male partner in those conditions 2 years back.

Howvever, i am so grateful to you all and will keep you posted as to how it works out

Take Care
Ian H

Skimmia are hardy, you just need good drainage for our wet winters. It is the wetness rather than the cold that will kills them. I have 2 in the ground and they are romping away - I note that you have them in pots which means that the pot freezes the roots. I also note some moss which suggest poor drainage.

There are loads of Scottish nurseries. I can recommend Hopetoun Nursery near the Forth Road Bridge. They have a large and pleasant nursery to walk around and it is 45 mins at most from Lanarkshire.

http://www.newhopetoungardens.co.uk/

There is also Scotplantsdirect that does delivery (rather steep £7.99) but the plants are large and healthy. Not got the Skimmia you asked for though they do have some different varieties.

Scotsgran: propagate via either semi ripe cuttings in mid to late summer, or ripewood cuttings in late summer/early autumn. You can reckon on at least 3 years before they're able to flower, I'd imagine.

Thank you Bamboo. I just realised I had forgotten to click on add comment. That is helpful.