Lilli Erasin from Berlin-Mitte shows us her easy-care, beautiful, animal-attracting balcony in the middle of Berlin and gives us some tips. Can you see the Berlin TV tower shining among the flowers? Lilli raves about balconies, flowers and the animals that visit her balcony. The many flying visitors — insects and birds — also give her the greatest pleasure. Followed by toxin-free tomatoes and a variety of fresh seasonal delicacies. Gardener Lilli has a unique flower store in Berlin with fairly produced and traded flowers, preferably from regional and organic farms. Even the super easy-care wild plants are sold there. Thank you Lilli for allowing us to visit your realm. Let yourself be enchanted and inspired with tips for a beautiful, easy-care, animal-attracting balcony.
Lilli raves: When I had a visit from lady butterflies on the Patagonian verbena last year, I thought I was going to faint with joy, I was so pleased! Well, there are loads of bees and hoverflies and all sorts here. With animal visitors, whether it’s goldfinches that have suddenly arrived or tits that are living here at the moment, I have the feeling that there are few things that make you happier than nature, and I don’t mean walks in the park, but this immediate nature with squirrels, as it is with you, or butterflies or bees. Even finding ants in the pots is extremely touching. That makes me incredibly happy. I think it’s the animals, it’s simply life itself that makes the plants bloom. Even in their transience, as it is now on the balcony, it’s so beautiful. And then you also have something that you can eat that is healthier than what you might even get from the health food store. But the vital substances and vitamins in the vegetables or herbs from the balcony in a direct harvest are much, much higher. A balcony is win-win-win-win!
Lilli is not only good with flowers, her tomatoes are also a stunner. The Berlin air is good for you :). With a view of the Berlin TV tower and the Rotes Rathaus :).
Quote Lilli: This picture touches me. This is my sweetie’s hand. When I don’t have to go to the wholesale market, we have breakfast in bed. And there’s always a handful of harvest from the balcony, which my sweetie collects and drapes on the plate. On this day, there was delicious French tarragon, small fresh mint leaves, this incredibly unusual, almost sweet aromatic cinnamon basil, delicious, happiness-inducing autumn raspberries, the lushly growing, crunchy sweet red marble tomato, delicate, high-stemmed indoor garlic blossoms, wild strawberry flavor bombs & lemon chili — a really crisp, spicy pick-me-up! Good morning!
Cat balcony
Quote Lilli: So in 2011, in the middle of November, I moved in here. There are two balconies, one is 1.40 x 7.00 meters with a south-west orientation, an insane gift, and the other balcony is opposite with a south-east orientation, is lined very high with a wall, so you don’t want to sit there because you feel crowded. But I put a big birch tree on there and a cat net, and that’s now the cat balcony. At the beginning I thought you should only give the cats non-toxic plants, which is why a bamboo lives there, but in the meantime it has turned out that only Luzie is interested in nibbles anyway, and she eats grass and nothing else.
Lilli’s personal plant recommendations for a beautiful, easy-care balcony that attracts animals
A long balcony season with lots of different honey plants is very important to me. The plants I recommend, I recommend from experience. I have them on my balcony myself and am particularly enthusiastic about them. Of course, there are also many other treasures that have not (yet) moved in with us, but are totally valuable for a balcony. Willows or a columnar apple, for example. So this list is totally incomplete: I like to plant communities in large pots and associate plants with similar requirements or because of their supportive effect. I like to use different plant families and heights. I like ground cover perennials, which act as a mulch and cover the bare, open soil. I had only moderate success with mulching last year. I strongly advise against using hay and I’ll list a few of my WGs:
- Clematis and cushion bellflower share a pot
- Clematis, lemon balm, oregano, cushion bellflower
- Autumn raspberries and marigolds
- Motherwort and ground ivy
- Funkia and wall cinnamon
- Wild vine, grape hyacinths, scented daffodils, spring anemones, ground ivy and creeping groundsel
- Patagonian verbena, agastache and globe thistle
- Agastache, blood cranesbill, yarrow
- Hollyhock and cranesbill Rozanne
- Viper’s bugloss, edelgammander and knautie
- Aster and Phacelia
- Wild mallow, larkspur and ground ivy
- Spur flower and magnificent candle
- Tomatoes, marigold, basil
- Strawberry and garlic
- Solomon’s seal, columbine, funkia, periwinkle
I always try to recommend a good, uncomplicated mixture that blooms for as long as possible. If you already have something decorative on your balcony, then treat yourself and the specialized wild bees to a pot of poppies, for example, that doesn’t flower for so long. A small selection of my favorites:
- Creeping groundsel
- Lungwort
- Wall cinnamon
- Motherwort
- Chicory
- Cranesbill “Rozanne”
- (Round-leaved/ peach/ cushion) Bellflower
- Patagonian verbena
- Jewelry basket
- Cornflowers
- Zinnias
- Corn poppy
- Agastache
- Stonecrop
- Mallows
- Purple loosestrife
- Asters
- Sedum
- Bearded flower
- Blue diamond
- Helenium
Herbs are incredibly good for everyone and therefore unbeatable. And not just rosemary or basil, but also “weeds” such as stinging nettle and goutweed! Autumn raspberries are absolutely amazing. I definitely wouldn’t want to do without them! And I have a great little strawberry. It’s a cross between a long-bearing month strawberry and a super tasty wild strawberry. There’s no shortage of nibbling and snacking on our balcony. And: I allow everything to go to seed. Only when I recognize it and declare it really really unsuitable do I pull it out. Actually, everything is welcome and enriches the flat-sharing communities. Chamomile, for example, is in almost every pot.
Bird balcony
Lilli’s balcony attracts birds — through feeding, water point (clean daily!), vegetation, high branches and letting the seed heads ripen. Can you see the goldfinch in these pictures from mid-April? Birds love to stop off on high branches or branches overhanging the parapet before flying from there to the feeding station. Lilli’s food dispenser are considered particularly hygienic. The food inside is protected from rain and does not become moldy. The drip trays hold some of the falling food. Because even birds are picky and think that the best food is yet to come :).
Who wants to join us in drawing a green ribbon of organic balconies through Berlin and the world?
Our city gardener Lilli spoke so beautifully on MDR television. Take a look at her spring balcony in the MDR media library inspire (minute 5.02 to 8.43). This is a great contribution. As always, Lilli is likeable, authentic and gives good tips: climbing aids made from tights :).
Comments on the television appearance:
- “I watched the post — very beautiful, loving, authentic — I’m also thrilled, and after the breather indicated on their Facebook page (aka company vacation) I’ll drive over to Wedding and visit the store. By the way, I also loved the tip “milk+water”.”
- “Lilly is so nice and the 7 m² roof balcony is a blast. I agree with you about the snack corner and the bird box. Everything has its place and yet it’s still original.”
- “The balcony is a stunner — just like the lilli, I think”
Lilli’s recommendation for a beautiful, easy-care balcony that attracts animals: Effective microorganisms & nettle manure
Lilli sources Effective Microorganisms from Eußenheimer Manufaktur for her organic flower store. Jürgen Amthor from Eußenheimer Manufaktur was interviewed at the 2019 congress, where he gave us a Balcony package with liquid fertilizer and the good Bokashi pellets for mulching. There is a permanent 5 % discount on the entire range with voucher code AS1009-gnwsu.
Horsetail extract and Nettle slurry obtains them from Snoek natural products (see interview with Kurt Schlicker in Congress 2020, discount voucher for first-time customers Organic balcony10).
Blumen-Goldbeck — the unique sustainable flower store in Berlin — …BALSAM FÜR DIE SEELE.
… Yay dear ones,
before you get bored at home:
Time for balconies! Now you can grow lots of plants in advance or sow them directly outside in pots.
Demeter seeds, Terra Preta soil, EM fertilizer, we have a wonderful selection here!… Sweet flowering plants, bright bag bouquets, cheerful seasonal bouquets also with vase, radiant, fragrant bulb flowers in pots, lovingly planted balcony boxes/pots or even a packet of organic seeds & a bag of organic soil, we bring it to your home or hand it to you through the window.
…FENSTERL WITH US!
Website Blumen-GoldbeckFlower store with fairly produced and traded flowers, preferably from regional and organic farms
- Lilli Erasin | Managing Director
- Tegeler Straße 32 | 13353 Berlin
- tel +49 30 4502 4854
- Store opening hours: Thu: 14:00 ‑19:30, Fri: 9:30–12:00 & 13:00–19:30, Sat: 9:30–17:30
- Delivery service: Monday & Friday
- info@blumen-goldbeck.de
- www.blumen-goldbeck.de
- www.facebook.com/blumengoldbeckberlin
- Instagram#blumengoldbeck
Balcony congress and book with even more tips for a beautiful, easy-care balcony
Lilli’s enchanting balcony in Berlin-Mitte adorns the cover of my book. This is where the title of this year’s 4th Online Organic Balcony Congress off :).
A valuable component of the 4th Online Organic Balcony Congress are interviews with balcony starters of wildflower balconies. The interviews with urban balcony gardeners Marie Fey show how much balconies can do for biodiversity and self-sufficiency, Stefanie Binder and Atessa Bienhüls. Lilli is also there. All four interviews are very inspiring and provide lots of tips on how to design and maintain low-maintenance balconies that attract wildlife. Pictures of their balconies embellish my book, where you can read more detailed information on designing insect-friendly and bird-friendly balconies. With such balconies, you can experience great nature observations without having to travel. You can watch all 27 expert interviews and 9 live Q&A sessions on balcony gardening here afterwards. The congress package can be purchased for a small price.
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2 Responses
Many thanks for all the suggestions! Once again, this is proof that nature is also possible on a balcony in the middle of the city. I’m going to try out a few of the shared apartments. I was just thinking about it, that’s particularly good 😉
LG
Valérie
Beautiful urban wilderness 👍😃
Question: Have you ever had problems with spider mites?
I also have a southwest-facing balcony, it gets super hot there in summer and the little buggers stand on it 🤨
Do you have any tips?
Lg. from Linz
Claudia