HOW MANY GREENS?

Now that our weather has moderated (a little), I'm interested in looking around outside. Not long ago I had an opportunity to drive out into the country a few miles. And everywhere I looked, I saw green.

Do you know how many greens there are in rural areas? Here's a sampling:

• soybean green - the plants are about knee high on me (remember, I'm not very tall), and so close together that they make a nice dense field look as if it's going on forever.
• corn green - corn is definitely much higher than my knee, probably closer to or even above my just-over-five-feet height. And still growing.
• grass green - every farmhouse has a nice lawn, even if it's only a patch in front of the house and runs alongside the road
• tree green - here's where things get tricky. Tree green is only a single color if you're painting trees with your kindergartner or, if you're like a lot of us, lump all trees in the landscape together. After all, that's a forest over there, isn't it? I can't tell what species each is from the road as I putter along at 50 mph (country roads also have speed limits).
• But if you happen to recognize a tree and can name its species, you'll find the maples are different from the oaks and different from willows and birches and pines and  . . . .
• weed green - this is a catch-all category for all the overgrown weeds that line country roads, usually along ditches where mowing is perilous and the consensus is that they can just be left alone.
• garden green - occasionally, from my vehicle, it's possible to see a cultivated garden
• a flower garden will have plants of various heights, often colorful because it's the season for blooming; the greens vary according to the variety--from deep green to dusty sage green, and everything in between.
• a kitchen garden - which provides vegetables and herbs for cooks, may have pole bean green, tomato plant green, parsley green, mint green, asparagus green, lettuce green, basil green, rosemary green, and many other hues, depending on the gardener's tastes and the availability of the plants or seeds. 

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If you'd like to know more about greens--the colors, not the kind you eat--do a search on the Crayola colors. The current Big Box has 120 crayons, and a healthy chunk of them are greens.

Blessings,

Thursday's Child

mostly green