I have been leafing through Derek Jarman's 'Chroma' over my after-lunch coffee (while waiting for a visit from T and S my 'almost every Sunday' callers. ) It is a fascinating book
Do you have a favourite colour? I think mine has changed a few times. After putting on a few pounds black is always fairly near the front of the queue with me for choice (slimming - well you like to think it is when you stand sideways to a full=length mirror and pull your tummy muscles in and hold your breath!!) but these days kit-kats and lack of any masculine admirers have both proved strong temptations and black (and yes I do know it is not a colour) is a bit drab.
Navy - fairly safe - I do tend towards navy trousers mainly because Chums had a good offer - too good to refuse. And after finding them a really good fit and brilliant in the washing machine I sent for two pairs of wine coloured ones too.
Blue is quite flattering to my colouring and I succumbed earlier in the year to a Sea Salt blouse - blue with white peonies all over. Trouble is we haven't yet had a warm enough day which has coincided with a trip out which has meritted getting 'poshed up'.
So if I have to name my favourite at the moment it would have to be green. Someone in the gardening world (Claire Austin? Vita Sackville West?) when writing about colour in the Herbaceous Border said (and gave me both comfort and food for thought for 2024) that you can never expect to have everything out at the same time You should always aim for leaves in different shapes, sizes and shades of green. Then your border would always generate interest.
A few weeks ago now I did not feel well and J, my carer, insisted my morning ablutions and getting dressed should be followed by a lay on top of the duvet for a couple of hours. I didn't go to sleep - I just spent the time looking out on to my garden at all the different greens in the plants not actually flowering and all the different shapes. No two plants were exactly the same shade of green and here and there a Heuchera with dark red leaves, or bronze leaves also broke up any suggestions of monotony. Acer and Euphorbia Robbiae stood out too - the self coloured flowers of the Euphorbia have now turned to bronze. Wonderful value as a plant in the border (seeds a bit too freely but easily pulled up and not given to sulking).
We are lucky in a way to live in a temperate land. I would guess that if one lived with the Touareg on the fringes of the Sahara it could be quite monotanous to be totally surrounded by the colour of sand. How exciting then would be the sudden sight of the green of an oasis. Even the sky over the Sahara never seems to be that glorious blue that it is here at the moment - ten minutes after one of those heavy showers the weather man forecast this morning. It always seems colourless to me when I watch travel programmes. The sun always seems to have burnt any colour out of it.
The absolute fiery red of my crocosmia at the moment almost makes me change my mind and a sneaky, slightly shorter clump of leaves amongst the tall spikes has suddenly today burst forth with a yellow/orange version (I can almost hear my father chuntering from above "it's montbretia") but no - I will stick to my original choice. Green for me. What about you?
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27 comments:
And many greetings from me in Napple's Blogland this fine day! My erstwhile empty, paving slabbed patio (back in 1992) has now almost nothing but shades of green in its 2023 Jungle-in-charge, nature's makeover condition.
So I doubly enjoyed your mention of colourful plants which my imagination can now scatter amongst my foliage. ♥ x
Green is also one of my favourite colours and it is the perfect colour to be a backdrop for all the vibrant colours of garden plants.
I bet that red crocosmia is 'Lucifer'. Funnily enough this morning I have just put a book in my wish list - Derek Jarman's Nature Diary about his garden created at Dungeness.
Anything but green Pat, for me, it's such a bland and uniform colour, take for instance fields of spring wheat, stretching for miles and all just a uniform green. Give me plenty of colours every time, a beautiful herbaceous border for example.
Green was the colour of my school uniform so never wear green! I am a blue person.
Sometimes in more ways than one!
Barbarax
I love many shades of green and blue and always have. Lately, rich shades of purple are becoming favorites.
Black can always be brightened up with a colorful blouse, sweater, or scarf - and earrings!
Hugs!
Another vote for green here. The different shades of green are marvellous. Some shades in nature you wouldn’t believe if they painted.
I prefer navy to black and almost any shade of blue - turquoise, royal, ultramarine, indigo, etc., but not the very pale ones for me. I do like some greens, magenta, lilac, lavender, and gentle purples and violets. I can't wear yellow, orange or red. However I like just about any colour in garden plants, and the overbright colours are always calmed by all the greenery around them.
Green has been my favorite color my entire life. And it 's been a long one. As a kid, I picked out the green M&M's. Saved them til last. Vivid memories of driving home from CA to TX. What a huge sigh of relief when we reached the end of the desert and came into the lush green near home. The splendor of forests, wherever I've found them. My closet-definite green dominance. My eyes are green, too. Maybe that enters the equation.
I am not sure that I have a favourite colour. In the garden I like anything bright and I don't mind if it clashes. With clothing I am generally more muted but I have been known to wear some unusual colours in the past.
Well, I have to say green because I see a much greater variety of them than most people, balancing out not seeing much red. My wife points out beautiful fields full of red poppies, but they are just all green to me, like the red fuchsia bush outside our front window. I don't know whether it is apocryphal, but it was said that those with my kind of colour vision make good bomb aimers because we are less deceived by camouflage.
I seem to be ending up with more green, and dark orange tops....but yes, I love black like you!
We are fortunate to live in temperate climes..just look at the wide range and depth of greens.
Yellow has always been my favorite color, followed closely by green, then red. Yellow is so cheerful, the color of our earliest spring blossoms, and of so many summer wildflowers here. But green is a close second, certainly, with all its variety of shades and shapes in the garden. Red is a happy color for me, warm and offering such bright spots in the garden.
Green, green, green. Since I was a Junior in high school and fell in love with army green. I know, weird, but I loved that muted shade of green at that time, over any other color. Now, I have to say there are so many varieties and shades of green, that it's often difficult to pick just one. I love a sage green, but also a mint green (not too pastel, though) and teal is also a lovely green, granted with blue undertones. But it has and always will be green. It's been so apparent for so many years that everyone I know seems to know, because when they see something green, they think of me. Ranee (MN) USA
I have finally found my clothing happy place by wearing Autumn colours. They have certainly become my favourite and I nestle into their comfiness. According to the old colour coding system I am actually a 'Winter' category - burgundy, blues, blacks, white, dk purple - those colours certainly did suit and could look quite dramatic - but Autumn makes me feel good now - anything the colour in trees and woodlands, and nothing dramatic!! - Pam.
Another green school uniform wearer here, although I have recently started wearing it again. I'm quite pale, and pale colours make me look washed out, so whatever it is has to have a bit of punch. What I never wear are patterns. As far as gardens go, I only seem to like yellow flowers in the spring. AFter that it's reds, pinks, blues and, of course, greens.
Blue has been my favorite color for a long time. My second favorite is green in honor of my Mom who loved green.
I'm just catching up on posts as I have been in the hospital all week recovering from Afib. I got my first ambulance ride on Tuesday and had lots of scary symptoms that have now cleared up. Thank goodness!
Thank you for your question and a memory: a friend’s mum and I resting on a grey bench in a big box store, under lights that leached all colour from the people within. Throughout her long life, my friend’s mum had painted, mostly on plates and mostly in pastels. When I asked her about her favourite colour, her reaction was electric. She sat bolt upright, ice blue eyes bright with her answer. ‘Yellow,’ she said. ‘I could just drink yellow.’
I like bright colours but purple is my favorite. I tend to wear uniforms with lots of colours and bold patterns. I'm reading "The Elephant Whisperer", a lovely book. Sadly, I ended up with a version that had been adapted for children, but still a good story. Thanks for the recommendation.
My favourite colours are denim blue and olive green. My eyes are greenish and those look best on me along with purple. And I detest red, any shade of red, my daughters favourite colour. Gigi
I also like most shades of green. I especially like Blue-Green, as in the shade of the Blue Spruce tree. My Korean Fur tree also features a nice Blue-Green-Gray shade. Green goes with all other colors. Look at nature and all the greens combined with colorful flowers of all shades. The same can be said for sky blue.
I really love a mauve or a coral. Lavender is also a lovely color.
Green for me too. I love eating off rustic green plates, I like to be surrounded by greenery, and a very close friend, who died recently, was born Ms S Green.
No secret what my favourite colour is - a look at my blog and personal photos is enough :-) Yellow has been my favourite for as long as I can remember, especially when it comes in combination with grey. I also love most shades of blue.
When it comes to flowers, there isn't a colour that does NOT look good, and to my eyes (!), there is no such thing as "clashing" in a garden or in the woods.
Derek: I agree, fields planted with one single variety of crop look monotonous. But look at woodland that has a good mix of trees and shrubs - the many different shades of green, sometimes verging on the yellow, makes woodland anything but monotonous (unless it's more of a plantation than proper woods, with only one or two kinds of trees, which is unhealthy anyway).
I don't know.
I tend to wear a lot of blue and white stripey t-shirts and I live in jeans so it's a good safe match, but my favourite colour is green. It always has been from being a small child. It really brings out the colour of my green eyes when I wear it, and as you know from my previous blogs I have nearly always had lots of green around the home.
JINKSY Lovely to hear from you. A big hello and a hug!
DEREK Intereesting what you say about green when you are such a keen gardener. Just go out and count how many different greens there are in your garden. You will be surprised.
Tasker - so interesting what you say about being colour blind - my brother was colout blind and I understand that it takes many different forms. How do you go og with traffic lights? I presume the light in them is enough to make you understand which one is on.
Thanks - it has been so interesting reading your colour preferences.
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