Botanical Coloring Page

This botanical coloring page is a tall spray of ferns and flowers inside a leafy border. A long central frond rises from a small round knot at the bottom, and curved stems carry four full blooms out to each side. Two small buds top the outer stems. The layout is balanced from left to right, much like a print in an old nature book.

Because each leaflet is a small closed shape, this is a slow and steady page. It suits adults and older teens. You will need about 45 minutes, and more if you shade each leaf.

Who should try this botanical coloring page

Gardeners will feel at home here. So will anyone who likes neat, repeating work, since the leaves let your hand fall into an easy rhythm. It is also a good step up for people who have finished a few simple flower pages and want more to do.

Art students can use it to practice blending greens. With so many leaves, there is plenty of room to test ideas.

A palette from the garden

Do not settle for one green at all, because a single flat shade will hide the careful shape of every frond. Choose three or four: a yellow green for the tips, a mid green for most leaves, and a dark blue green near the stems. The fern will look alive right away.

For the blooms, try dusty pink with a deep rose center. Soft coral and pale gold also work. Keep the flowers to one or two colors, or they will fight with all that leaf detail.

The background looks best when it is quiet. A pale cream feels like old paper, and that gives the page its vintage print style. For the border, a light sky blue makes a soft frame around the plants.

Shading tips for leaves

• Color each leaflet from the stem out, lifting your pencil near the tip.
• Darken the side of each leaf that sits closest to the center stem.
• Turn the sheet as you go, because curves are easier when they run toward your hand.
• Test your greens on scrap paper first, as pencils can look different on the page.

A white pencil or a colorless blender can smooth the layers once you finish. If you do not own one, a clean tissue rubbed gently works fairly well.

Plants, ferns and famous artists

Before cameras, science relied on careful drawings of plants. Artists had to show each part clearly so that readers could tell one species from another. Maria Sibylla Merian, born in Germany in 1647, is one of the most admired. She traveled to South America to draw plants and insects from life, which was a bold thing for anyone to do at the time. The history of this art form is covered in the botanical illustration article on Wikipedia.

Ferns are very old plants. They were here long before the first flowers, and they do not grow from seeds at all. Instead, they spread by tiny spores, which you can often see as small brown dots on the underside of a frond.

Young ferns unroll. They start as a tight spiral. People call these fiddleheads, since they look like the top of a violin.

Display ideas for your finished print

This page was made to be framed. Trim the sheet, mount it on a piece of cream card and add a thin wood frame. Two or three in a row look lovely on a staircase wall.

Try a set in different seasons. Give one copy spring greens, another deep summer tones and a third the rust and gold of fall.

You could also write a plant's name in neat script along the bottom, like a real nature print. Copy the page onto heavier card, and it makes a smart cover for a garden journal.

More plants to color

Look through our coloring pages for adults for other calm designs, or visit our flower coloring pages for simpler blooms. The lotus coloring page is a nice one to try next.

Questions