Outside Smells Gorgeous

Our garden used to be part of the field where the horses live and, despite my OH’s huge efforts, the garden is putting up quite a fight to remain a field.

When I first lived here with my two small daughters, the horses were allowed everywhere and used to wander about close to the house, knocking on the back door or rattling the snib (thank you Haakon) for a quick perusal of the biscuit tin.  We had no garden.  Just horses and ponies everywhere.  At night, Iacs would loom in the kitchen window and block any tv signal.  It was wonderful and no one minded.

Once my OH moved in, from Englandshire, he had some romantic notion of a garden and the bit of field around the house was duly fenced off.  Since then it has been a constant battle – between my OH and the gradual encroachment of the field trying to return.

Anyway, this time of year the wild flowers in the garden are amazing.  For me, they outshine any cultivated plants.  I am not a gardener.

And the smell.

Oh my goodness, the air is honey-like sweet from the clover that has gone mad and the rosa rugosa.

We also have “seggies”, the beautiful yellow-flag irises (Iris pseudacorus), growing wild by the water, in the fields and therefore the garden. They attract the insects but they are pretty and “very Shetland”.

 

Wherever I wander I am never alone.

There is always my small retinue of followers.

However, when Lambie and friends were banned from the garden a few years back (Lambie was caught eating the sacred willow trees and there was something about out of control sheep muttered), I gave up sitting there and prefer our outside table and chairs so everyone can be together.

So no one really sits in the garden these days.  Shouldn’t have banned Lambie;   just sayin’.

8 thoughts on “Outside Smells Gorgeous

  1. Margaret Robinson

    Tell OH that’s a darn near perfect garden and to keep up the war with the field encroachment.

    Reply
  2. Terri

    Different people, different passions. As an avid gardener myself, my sympathies lie with your OH (although I am besotted with all things equine). But the “garden wildflowers” are certainly lovely! And it’s nice to see the Thordalers relaxing outside, in any case! Give-and-take. Trade-offs in life. Happy Summer!

    Reply
  3. Louise Stopford

    There are some beautiful flowers in your garden so it’s not altogether a lost cause – in fact quite the opposite, the blooms are wonderful. Struggling to keep my plants alive in this heatwave we are having at the moment – gardening can be challenging (but very rewarding). Just being nosy, hope you don’t mind, but was it always your dream to move to Shetland? Just wondered why you decided to move there in particular (although I can see from your wonderful photography what a spectacular and yet sometimes challenging place it is. Very brave move with two young children in tow. I bet now there is nowhere else in the world you would rather be – surrounded by amazing scenery and all your animals on your own land – sounds like heaven to me.

    Reply
    1. Frances Post author

      I lived in London with my husband and two very small children. We wanted to move out to the country but couldn’t find anything jobwise for my husband.

      I had a very small mail-order business selling kilts and Fair Isle Jerseys for children. I had just started and wanted to get the colours right of the knitwear so decided to come up here for a small break and to meet the knitter.

      The minute the plane landed a small voice said I was home. I mentioned this to my husband a few days later and he agreed. So we went home, sold up and came up here with everyone.

      Reply
  4. Sam

    Sorry that lambie ate the wrong plants in the past. Love the local flowers. What is OH trying to grow in the garden?

    Reply

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