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Sketching seedpods and planning a native wildflower balcony

butterflies seedpods

I’ve been collecting a lot of wildflower seedpods throughout the summer months, mostly roadside finds from plants around the neighborhood. I thought it might be nice to take a closer look and do a sketching session with some of the seedpods. A lot of them are as beautiful and intricately built as the flower itself, and the mechanism for letting the seeds out bit by bit (or all at once) is fascinating to explore. So I’ve grabbed a pencil and taken a closer look at some seedpods in my sketchbook. I’ve opened a few of them to understand how they are built, and found out that I will have to get new poppy seeds – they’re already gone. But luckily, they’re growing just around the corner, and the neighbors won’t mind if I take a few seedpods from this “weed plant”.

Sketching seedpods and planning a native wildflower balcony

The reason I’m collecting those seeds in the first place is that I want to change the way I grow plants on my balcony. We have a balcony that gets a lot of sun, and for a few years now I have observed that while it is very nice to have veggies like tomatoes and peppers growing on it, or garden flowers, these plants need a lot of water, and will usually grow better in real ground (as opposed to planters) in my community gardening plot. This summer there were already areas in Germany which were rationing water for the general public, in Southern Europe this is even more dramatic, and we still are dealing with the drought period that began in 2018. Although it’s autumn now, and a bit wetter and colder, it simply doesn’t rain enough, or regularly anymore for the soil to regenerate. 2022 has been another exceptionally dry year over here in Germany, and with the climate breaking down more and more I suspect it won’t be the last, and more catastrophic events will follow each year. While some of us are pressuring politicians to catch up to reality and make the systemic changes we need to make this crisis bearable and survivable, I want to make small changes in the ways that I can (just to be clear: I do not think that this amount of action is enough or even a considerable amount of change against the climate crisis which is happening right before our eyes. What I’m doing here is at worst a feel-good attempt at simulating normalcy, at best a tiny step at creating a local habitat that might help a few local species to survive life in a heating city).

I’m rethinking the way that I grow plants on my balcony. I’m using bigger planters (actually they’re more like tubs) with a water reservoir that I will build in, and I want to grow plants that don’t need a lot of attention – local wildflowers are great for this way of gardening, because they can usually get by with very little water or care, and they are most adapted to our climate. I know that a lot of people regard them as weeds and remove them, but I always find these wild meadows with native wildflowers more exciting and beautiful than lawns or gravel gardens that almost seem ecologically dead in comparison. I’m also planning to collect more water from my household to water the plants (from washing veggies, hands, etc.) so that I won’t use up too much fresh water.

I’ve read a lot of blogs and articles about how to add native plants to balconies, and I really want to transition ours to a place that’s more interesting for insects, more resistant against heat and drought, and still beautiful and ecologically diverse. Maybe it will even become an interesting place for sketching wildflowers. Some people say simply wait for the seeds to arrive by wind, something will grow eventually, but I think I’m too impatient for that.

So throughout the summer, I’ve been collecting lots of seeds around the area, hoping that I can grow some of them next year. Most of the vegetables and the bigger summer flowers have already moved to my community garden plot this year – marigolds, sunflowers, cosmos flowers, etc – they’re beautiful but they need so much water when you grow them in planters. Tomatoes and bell peppers are not always ideal for field growing, although this year they did very well, and I’d love to move them entirely to the community garden plot.

I still want to grow a few mediterranean herbs that I can’t live without (rosemary, thyme, savory, oregano, basil), and a few small kitchen greens. I’m currently researching which other perennial plants will be suitable for a very sunny balcony.

Anyway, I hope this was somehow interesting for you. Sketching the different seedpod structures was definitely different for me, as it involves rendering a lot of dry textures and surfaces. I use dry brushing techniques for those, with very little water and pigment. Most of the work is actually done with the mechanical pencil – still my fav tool.

Creating this sketchbook page made me think about the cycles in nature, and the way plants grow, procreate and die, to then dry up, disseminate their seeds and wait for the next generation. It’s always so fascinating to me when I see an entire plant growing from just a tiny seed. Like sketching, gardening always grounds me and gives me new energy and strength. I’m already looking forward to the next spring and summer!

Do you have a garden or a balcony? Do you grow wildflowers? Have you ever taken a closer look at seedpods?

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14 thoughts on “Sketching seedpods and planning a native wildflower balcony”

  1. Hello Julia,
    Wonderful post!
    I also have a terrace in my flat, I live in a 7th stage, and after some works on the building I have to rebuild the plants. I’d also like to grow native plants around my town, I live in Eibar, Basque Country, Spain. This year has been terrible here too, very little rain and unending hot days, I never saw the river with so little water.
    Please, keep us informed how things are going in your balcony. Should you post details on the process you are following and some photos, it would be wonderful.
    A different thing, where do you buy your art supplies in Germany?

    Thank you,
    Juan

    1. Hello Juan, I can imagine in your climate the effects from the heat are even more extreme. Let’s hope for at least one year of relief and rain. I will definitely share an update about my balcony situation. 🙂
      I order most of my supplies from online art dealers, one of my favorites just closed forever. But there’s always Gerstaecker – they’re the biggest store with prices that are hard to beat, but there’s also Peters Art, Boesner. I miss going to small art supply shops though!

  2. Janet Johnson-Heuertz

    I love all of your blog posts, Julia, and just figured out how to comment. I love your thoughts about small gestures to impact climate change. Any action each of us can take is highly valuable, regardless of the size of impact. You continue to inspire me greatly here in the western USA.

    1. Thank you Janet, and great you found out how to comment! I guess one can feel a bit insignificant with actions like this, but of course every little thing each of us does is better than nothing.

  3. hola Julia hoy he estado viendo algunos de tus vídeos que no había tenido tiempo aún de visualizar y me he quedado enamorada. este verano para mí no ha sido tan fructífero en pintar, espero que el otoño me cunda un poquito más. Yo aunque soy del país Vasco, vivo ahora en Cantabria y este año también hemos sufrido la sequía y calores muy intensos. soy una enamorada de las plantas y mi balcón siempre está verde y florido y la verdad es que llama la atención pero sí que observo que el consumo de agua es elevado. es muy preocupante la situación que tenemos con el clima y aquí en el norte se nota muchísimo la poca cantidad de agua que llueve cuando hace unos años todo el norte se conocía por sus lluvias.
    hablando de dibujos me gusta mucho la frescura de tus paisajes tan sencillos, que me encantan porque al mismo tiempo tienen cantidad de detalles y parece que estás dentro de éllos. Ya me atreví con las plantas, ese es el próximo paso atreverme con algún paisaje. Un abrazo.

    1. Thank you dear Marta! We will all need some solution for the heat and drought that will return. I hope you will have a beautiful and blooming balcony in the coming years too!

  4. Another beautiful post Julia! I particularly enjoyed watching you work with the nature background sound. I always find your posts very inspiring – thank you for sharing them.

  5. I am just in from gathering seed pods before the rain so that i can try my hand tomorrow. I noticed the black fountain pen with gold nib that you used on your Schwartzkummel. I believe you are using a green ink in that pen to add detail to your sketch. Can you tell me the brand and colour of the ink you used? I am assuming it is waterproof, yes? Thank you for such an interesting lesson – often the very basis of life is overlooked in favour of the showpieces. Your seed pods are a good reminder about starting points.

    1. I’m using Rohrer + Klingner Sketch Ink in green in a small Kaweco Sport fountain pen. The ink is waterproof but won’t clog the fountain pen so easily. Enjoy sketching your seed pods – are you going to sow them in spring?

  6. Thank you for the pen and ink information; sounds like i could use the R+K ink in one of my Lamy Safari pens, although your little Kaweco is such a great size. I gathered my seed pods from around our property where the plants grow profusely, so i took just a few to draw and paint. Thanks again for your help; i’ll look forward to seeing your balcony blooms alongside your seed pod paintings in Spring/Summer 2023. Best, -karen.

  7. Just love your blogs and sketches……,I have been away from anything creative in the last while but am looking forward to getting back to it all.

    We live in Salmon Arm, BC where we have no rain for weeks and weeks…..all really very scary…..we are as dry as a bone. We need a soft refreshing drizzle for about a month before freeze up……….there is still time I am hoping.

  8. I have a balcony that faces southwest, so it is HOT and SUNNY and I’ve been wanting to figure out a way to grow native plants there, instead of non-native nursery stock. I may start inquiring around with the local native plant growers, to see if they have any seeds for sale. Thanks for the inspiration!

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