Fragrance

Native58

Can anyone suggest some fragrant plants for my garden in Shetland.  I have loads of beautiful flowers that I've inherited with the house - daffs, tulips, lily of the valley, irises, bluebells, lung wort, irises, honeysuckle, crocuses and crocosmia,  but they have all been inherited and I'd like to make the garden more 'mine' if you know what I mean by this.  I would like to have some really nice fragrant plants that I could plant under the windows - I'm lucky enough to have a garden that goes all the way around the house.  Being in Shetland,  (I listened to the Lerwick episode of Gardeners Question Time for some inspiration) I really need hardier plants, I think. I have a peat based soil, and I'm not sure what will grow in this soil.  If all else fails, I can grow in pots, but the plants would still have to be able to withstand salt laden winds - sometimes up to gale force 9!  I think this probably rules out a lot of plants, but I'm sure there are a selection of smelly plants that I can grow here - help please!

Welshwindyhills

I’m not a rose expert, but how about Rugosa rose varieties?  

pansyface

The only time I visited Shetland (in May, with the daffodils just in bud) I met a man who had gone to live there to work.

He was originally from London.

He said that he’d sown carrot seeds in his garden and the carrots had appeared in the garden three doors down because of the wind.

Get your neighbour three doors up to grow something smelly. That way you should get the benefit. 😊

Fire

You could try planting in loads of blocks of bare root wallflowers under the windows in the autumn. Terrific, wafty scent in April/May.

What is the wind like around the house? Are there any breakers like hedging or tree belts?

Silver surfer

Native58 
I live in Scotland and have visited Shetland.
My memory is an island almost devoid of any trees.
No trees no shelter.
I cannot begin to imagine the wind, gales and horizontal rain you must get.
May I suggest you search the whole island and just study what others are growing.
If others can grow it, then hopefully you will be able to as well.

Check these links out for  local help from people that have lived with your weather for ages and know the problems.

https://www.plantiecrub.co.uk/



https://www.cope.ltd.uk/enterprises/shetland-garden-co

Fire

I have daffs, tulips, lily of the valley, irises, bluebells, lung wort, irises, honeysuckle, crocuses and crocosmia,

I would guess if you have all these going strong then you must have a pretty good shelter belt around the house. Scented roses under the windows with wafty scent, can be lovely

There are quite a number of threads about flowers with fragrance. Have a hunt through the search function.

https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1061565/best-flowers-for-scent/p2

https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1057070/favourite-fragrant-flowers-what-s-yours

Silver surfer

Shetland is very very different from other places.

Locals are trying to change this by adding trees

https://shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/products/horticulture-on-the-edge

https://www.shetland.org/blog/treeless-thats-changing

Fairygirl

The wind is the main reason for the lack of trees, as @Silver surfer describes.
You need a physical shelter belt of some kind, even before you plant hedging or similar, in the kind of winds Shetland constantly gets. The posts and netting type of barrier is the norm in very windy areas further north, even on the mainland, never mind any of the islands.
If you already have some low growing plants, you must have something that's reasonably good in place though?
Everything is much later to grow and flower too, which can also be problematic. Best idea is to do as @Silver surfer  suggests. Even stuff that manages here where I am, would struggle in Shetland, due to the temps and climate. 

Woodgreen

@Native58 posted on an earlier thread. 'Inherited plants'
There are sycamores on two sides, and a thicket of rugosa roses which may also give shelter?

Fire

I worked in Shetland thirty years ago, on environmental projects. I miss it still.

Native58

Thank you for your comments.  I'm lucky enough to have rosa rugosa around one side of the garden - they're huge, dense and beautiful - and sycamores on two sides, so I have a fairly sheltered garden on three sides.  The side that faces the road is open to the elements with only a stock fence (wire stretched on equally spaced poles) for protection.  I was wondering if I could grow more honey suckle along this fence?  I want something fairly 'light' along the fence so that it offers just a little more protection in the front of the house.