The paved area outside the entrance to the Orkney Library and Archive in Kirkwall, famous for its large balls, has seen a few changes to it over the last two years. In 2021 the space was very much as it had been for many years.
Last year, 2025, interesting features appeared on the walls.
2025 was also the year of the outside book bench, part of The Book Bench Trail produced by Clan Cancer Support and Wild in Art. #BookBench at Orkney Library.
Raised planters appeared in 2025 with a range of plants found in the wild in Orkney with information panels to explain a bit more about them.
Upstairs in the Archive Room was a small display of some of the amazing Orkney plant collectors.
This year, 2026, work continues to transform this outdoor space where people can come and sit on those days when the weather is kind.
The Library received one of the 30 cherry trees planted across Orkney as part of the Sakura Cherry Tree Project, courtesy of the Orkney Japan Association.
It’s been interesting to watch it grow and bear its first blossoms.
The most recent features installed on this space are planters with the plants selected and planted by local school children.
All of this is part of an interactive Floral Trail. The Orkney Library and Archive website states:
At the front of Orkney Library & Archive we have created an Interactive Orkney Flora Trail which features a series of raised planters with each one representing a different Orkney habitat. The trail is also an opportunity to hear Orcadian dialect, with flower poems specially created and recorded by the local Orkney Voices group. There are also tactile wall panels, a wooden finger maze and a set of musical chimes.
Each planter also has a QR code which you can scan to hear the poems OR you can hear them on our website by clicking here.
What a wonderful and creative use of this space.
Fiona Grahame