Thursday 20 November 2014

The Colour Collaborative: November: Leaf


Although it's November and most of the leaves are orange and red and yellow, I've come here to talk about the colour I love the most when it comes to gardens and the countryside, green.


I don't dislike autumn, far from it, but my favourite time of year is early summer, when the new leaves are stretching to their full potential, turning from a fresh acid colour to a deep healthy green.  The air feels invigorated with their growth, almost as if I can feel all of that oxygen pumping into the atmosphere.





A big part of the beauty of the English countryside is its greenness.  Everywhere you look, something is growing.  In spring and summer it completely takes my breath away.  I love the woods and the hedgerows, the pretty gardens and dark green leaves against ancient stone.




There's every shade of green out there, from the palest mint to the deepest bottle green.  I'm always really drawn to gardens filled with just green.  The different textures and colours can be truly beautiful.  The structure of evergreens, the movement of grasses and the drama of more tropical leaves.  And they all do their bit for the environment.

The green leaves of the world are such an antidote to everything we do that pollutes our planet.  The cleansing breath of the rainforest provides 20% of our oxygen.  Of course, every tree helps, it doesn't have to be in the rainforest.  I've always loved houseplants too, I used to have over eighty before I moved here.  Mostly green leafy ones, not many had flowers.  It was a little bit of the rainforest in my home.

Wherever I am, I'm always happier when I'm surrounded by trees and green leafy plants.  It's impossible to go for a walk in the countryside without coming back in a better mood, I guarantee it.  As well as being good for the planet, green is good for the soul.  A world without our leafy plants is unimaginable and our beautiful green landscapes deserve protection and preservation.


To visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts, just click on the links below:

           Annie at Annie Cholewa                                  Gillian at Tales from a Happy House

           Sandra at Cherry Heart                                     Jennifer at Thistlebear

What is The Colour Collaborative?

All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways.

35 comments:

  1. Eighty house plants?!!! I am so impressed - I'm absolutely rubbish at keeping the things alive. The only one that manages to survive is my chilli plant and I think that's only because it likes to be stressed! Lovely post, as usual. x

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  2. I think that it is easy to forget the importance of green, it provides a wonderful backdrop for the colour of other flowers and plants in the gardens and without green they would not be nearly so spectacular! Beautiful photos from the American Museum! xx

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  3. Lovely photos - I'm not good with houseplants. I have no idea why - outside gardening is far more successful than anything I try and do indoors.
    I quite keen for Spring to arrive now. Lots of green shoots i my garden and bulbs emerging - it's easy to think it's just round the corner, rather than the fact that we have Winter to go through yet! x

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  4. Your photos of leafy green countryside have put a smile on my face this morning. My favorite time of year is late spring to early summer when the hedgerows are filled with life and the green leaves are stretched as far as they can reach, like you say. Being surrounded by green has a very deep emotional and physical effect on me. The dark winter nights are really making me anxious and I long for light evenings and hills blanketed with green. Hurry up April!
    Miss Tulip x
    The Thrifty Magpies Nest

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  5. I can so relate to what you've written here, we share a favourite time of year, a love of walking in the countryside and it's true, you always come away in a happy mood. Over eighty house plants though, respect, I can never keep them alive.

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  6. Lovely post. We are so used to seeing the geeen backdrop that I guess it is sometimes overlooked. Good to give it the attention it deserves.

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  7. another reason to love this time of year....there truly is something for everyone!!!!! beautiful post!

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  8. Green is definitely a colour of healing. I enjoy being under a canopy of green during the summer months too.
    Beautiful posts. I love the Colour Collaborative!
    Leanne xx

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  9. Being amongst green leafy things really refreshes your soul. Perhaps that's why things feel a little bleak at this time of year. Saying that autumn is still by very favourite season. Eighty house plants! blimey.

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  10. I love green too. My favourite green time is spring when I don;t think you can beat the fresh new leaf greens that last far too briefly.
    Some lovely photos here.

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  11. A lovely post and wonderful pictures. Good for you as green is so often overlooked sadly. Flighty xx

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  12. Thanks for showing these beautiful photos. I have to agree with you wholeheartedly.

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  13. CJ, you tree-hugger, you! I knew it. ;-) Yes, I agree, trees are good for the soul. I love the woods most right now but second to that I love them in late May/early June, when spring is just on the cusp of summer and it's all so lush and vivid. Your pictures really capture the depth of all that green. xx

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  14. Love green and especially the lovely fresh lime green of the young leaves on the beech trees in our local woodland in spring. I'm with you CJ, our green landscape is definitely good for the soul. Enjoy the rest of the week xx

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  15. Lovely photos as always - I also love the bright summer green of young leaves. And I'm a bit crazy about trees - I run through a wood near our house and at my favourite stop I always tell the trees how beautiful they (have to make sure no-one is in ear shot before I speak but usually I'm alone, thankfully!)
    Caz

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  16. I agree.. and I'm a "greenie" too! Loved all your images of your wonderful place on this earth.
    ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  17. Oooh, I'm so with you on this. Just love those amazing early leaved trees at that time of year. There's the promise of the summer ahead and the excitement of new beginnings.

    I also love the sound of 80 houseplants. 80! Sounds stunning...

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  18. Beautiful spirit lifting, life giving green. You'd like my tiny courtyard garden, lots of ivy, eucalyptus, a jasmin with such tiny flowers you can barely see them, mostly green plants in the few pots, and not much else.

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  19. Hello CJ. This grand old month of November is holding up well and it's so lovely to see such colour all around...still. Though I have to agree, at this time of year, the more the green the better.

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  20. For me it's the green of new hawthorn leaves - it's almost as though you can see the leaves growing - and at the risk of sounding a bit hippie-ish - almost as though you can see an aura of spring around them. It's the colour that just screams spring is here to me.

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  21. You are making me love green more by the minute. Usually I place it after red and blue in my list of color favorites, but I do love just about everything that is green. Beautiful photos of the countryside! This is where having lots of rain pays off :)

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  22. I really enjoyed this take on the topic. I love green too, and it's that fresh green in early spring that I love best. I'm very impressed with your houseplant numbers, wow! I'm so bad at keeping things alive, especially since moving to a dry climate. I had a huge philodendron once and had to get rid of it when moving here; I tried to give it away and nobody wanted it! I was so sad. I miss that plant. Hopefully someday I'll have the guts to try again with a new one. Thank you for sharing these green photos; you live in such a lush and verdant country.

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  23. I loved your post and the pictures are so beautiful! It's so green there it made me miss summer so much! :)

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  24. You captured ALL the greens. I love the hedgerow that you can walk through. :-)

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  25. There is something so magical about that time of year when the greens are fresh! You described it so wonderfully!!! And your photographs are extraordinary!!!! Wishing you a wonderful weekend friend! Nicole xoxo

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  26. Yes, the lushness of green on green is very soothing and relaxing. I think it's energising too because those fresh, bright green leaves look so young and full of life!

    S x

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  27. Oh I totally agree! Early summer is my fave! Everything is SO beautiful and it seems like the possibilities are endless when everything comes in full bloom!

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  28. I love your photos and was transported back to early summer. May, in particular, is one of my favourite months.

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  29. Great post CJ - yes, we NEED plants. They make people's lives more enjoyable without people even realizing it. That many houseplants - wow! I bet you didn't have any cats - those plants wouldn't have survived.

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  30. I love green too, that invigorating spring green is amazing. Looking at those spring/summer photos it seems ages ago now x

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  31. Gorgeous images dear C.J, green is such an amazing colour in nature, so soothing and relaxing, A wonderful blog you have here.
    xoxoxo ♡

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  32. That looks a lot like the view from the American Museum in Bath! We have recently moved there from London. Love your pictures!

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  33. I love green gardens with a little white, so clean and fresh, setting off the different shades. Gorgeous scenery there CJ. Take care x

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  34. Hi, I have just discovered your blog so I am new here, but I have absolutely loved your post, very inspiring ans although I am a purple person, I do love green too.

    Have a nice week!

    Lluisa xx

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