Story behind the art of Kelsey Wilson

Botanical Art Worldwide 2025-A More Abundant Future:

Diversity in Garden, Farm, and Field

American Society of Botanical Artists at the Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO

Black Raspberry

Rubus occidentalis

The first plant that caught my attention to satisfy the brief for this exhibition was the native honeyberry, Lonicera caerulea. Since I didn’t know a lot about the shrub it seemed like a good opportunity to teach myself about it and then share what I found. This is what happened.

 After some initial research I found a garden in Iowa City that grew this and other edible plants for public use. In the spring and then again in summer I drove the four hours round trip to catch the honeyberry in its flowering and fruiting stages. I did sketches and color studies and took photos.

And then I tasted the fruit to confirm that this plant was one I wanted to promote and maybe even grow in my own garden. Online sources state that honeyberries, while tart, are good substitutes for blueberries in climates that have challenges growing them. Well, I did not enjoy eating the berries. In short, they were so sour that they were nearly unpalatable. I don’t want to base my opinion on one experience with several plants grown in the same environment. As a gardener, I’m aware that the soil composition greatly affects the flavors and productivity of plants. With that in mind, I will reserve judgment of the honeyberry until I can try it again.

However, even if it had been a divine culinary experience, there was still another factor that made me wary about this plant. Honeyberries are closely related to the invasive honeysuckles that are wreaking havoc in the Midwest. There is some cautious speculation that they could easily escape cultivated areas and cause more problems than they would solve.

So after nearly six months of planning a honeyberry painting, I changed my mind and decided to look a little closer to home. Enter the black raspberry.

Wouldn’t it be great to see more than just three choices of berries in the grocery store?

Less common than its bright red cousin Rubus idaeus, black raspberries have been foraged from time untold and are now cultivated on a relatively small scale. Blackberries are in the same genus but are very different. The most obvious difference is that black raspberries have a hollow core when removed from the plant, whereas blackberries retain their core.

In my painting, I wanted to capture the range of yellow greens, blush pinks, reds, and finally the deepest of purples. I also wanted to represent the bloom on the stems. It was a challenge to show the bloom-like quality and expose the reddish bark and bright green stem where the stuff was rubbed away. The silvery white underside of the leaves is a trademark of raspberries.

But my favorite characteristic of this plant is the way it offers up its bounty. Unlike red raspberries, which hide clusters of fruit all along the underside of canes surrounded by prickles, black raspberries hold up a single cluster at the end of the canes which are easy to access without encountering the sharp prickles.

There is likely an evolutionary reason behind this seemingly generous offering of the berries to the sky. Maybe the digestive systems of four legged creatures are too tough on the seeds so they managed to cater to birds instead? Whatever the reason, I’m grateful that I can pick them without gloves.

The flavor of the berries is more akin to mulberries or grapes than raspberries in my opinion. They can be eaten fresh, made into preserves or used in baked goods. All summer we collected the leaves to make a pleasant herbal tea. We even used them as a significant ingredient in our home brewed mead (honey wine) that resulted in a dark red beverage that was reminiscent of merlot.

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