is English green a thing?

Published on by Quandie

I watch a lot of British television.  Mostly garden shows, detective shows like Vera or Father Brown, and the occasional Graham Norton.

One thing that always seems to catch my eye are brick or stone cottages with a vibrant green trim.  I searched high and low online for a photo of the shade of green I picture in my head, but couldn’t find the exact color.  I have this photo that I took at The Beamish back in 2017.

That green isn’t quite as vibrant as others I’ve seen, this next one might be a bit closer.

Hopefully you get the idea.

Last summer I decided to change up my front door color to what I think of as that English Green.  I ended up choosing a color from Behr called Mown Grass.

Then earlier this week I pulled that color back out and painted the obelisk trellis that my handyman Ken made.

You may remember that earlier this spring.  I painted up a Flower Market sign to hang on my back deck.

Well, OK, it was supposed to be spring, but we had that freak snow storm on April 1.

I used a Dixie Belle color called Kudzu on that sign, and I really love it.  At the time I was only thinking about what color would work well on the dark olive green-ish color of our siding.

I never even thought about the pair of Adirondack chairs that would sit in front of it.

It wasn’t until we pulled them out of winter storage this spring that I realized their existing yellow-green color was all wrong with the Kudzu.

I did love that color on the chairs.  It’s Rust-Oleum spray paint in a color called Eden.  It worked beautifully with all of the lime green foliage in my gardens.  But it definitely didn’t work with the sign.

But that’s OK because the chairs needed a paint touch up anyway.  So after giving them a good cleaning with some TSP substitute, I went ahead and painted them with the Mown Grass too.

It’s the perfect garden green.

And this color works much better with my Flower Market sign.

Try to ignore the fact that there is a hole in our deck under the chair on the left.  We’re working on getting that repaired.  It’s on the list with all of the other spring projects.  But I can check off ‘paint the Adirondack chairs’ and that feels good.

How do you like the new color?  And have you ever noticed that shade of English green?  Leave a comment and let me know!

39 thoughts on “is English green a thing?”

  1. I love all the greens but that Mown Grass is spot on for your chairs is it a Rustoleum color or DB color? You are amazing!

    Like

    Reply

    1. It’s Behr. Dixie Belle’s Kudzu is close, but has a bit less pop. The closest green I could find in Rustoleum spray paint is their Leafy Green, but that’s a bit dull in comparison as well. I did use that color on the wicker chair in my potting shed though (here).

      Like

      Reply

    2. Maybe I should look at the pictures more closely I’m embarrassed. So funny I just used this paint on a vinyl record cabinet. Very decent for the price. ty and apologies for my stupidity

      Like

      Reply

  2. Love the photos. I enjoy your photography and it a nice reference for the colour trend. I think Fusions “Conservatory” is also a good contender for the English Green colour.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Actually my color is a lot closer to their Park Bench. But looking at the Conservatory, I think it could be called Cotswolds Green, it has a lot more grey in it than the green I used. Apparently that sort of greyish green is used a lot on trim in the Cotswolds, and I found lots of examples of it while looking online for photos of the green I was thinking of.

      Like

      Reply

  3. This just doesn’t look like you. You’re the Drop Cloth queen! But if the color makes you happy then I’m all in.

    Like

    Reply

    1. I guess there is more to me than just Drop Cloth 😉 Really, I think it’s a garden thing, I’ve always felt like white just doesn’t work in the garden. If it makes you feel any better, I do have one of Ken’s Adirondack chairs on the front porch and it is painted in a very Drop Cloth like shade of white (although it’s spray paint, not actually Dixie Belle Drop Cloth). You can check it out in this post.

      Like

      Reply

  4. Oh my goodness! I LOVE that new color! I have four adirondacks, currently boring white, that needed a coat this year….guess they will be two coats, now, lol.
    Your whole yard looks amazing!!

    Like

    Reply

  5. I lived in the UK in the 90s and yes green is a thing as you say for cottages with gardens especially. When I lived in Scotland, black and white or a strong Scottish flag blue was popular on homes and garden furnishings.

    The secret to many lush gardens in England is undeplanting, very little soil showing around plants like the sparser NA gardens. Victoria BC is planted in the English style, much lusher and lower maintenance. Think bluebells under daffodils or tulips, vinca under Rose’s etc., impatiens or begonias under climbers.

    I have limited garden space in my flat now but I do plant in the English style. I keep perennials to blue and white and add a different bright colour of annuals each year to fill in. Last year I planted yellow for the Ukraine, this year I am thinking Coronation…..its a lot of fun changing it up.
    Happy gardening everyone.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Oh my gosh, thanks so much for your comment Juanita. First off, now I have a name for my own gardening style, and I love it. I totally plant in the English style, I love a lush garden. I was just trying to explain this to a friend the other day, I don’t like any bare ground to show. It totally cuts down on the amount of weeding you have to do, and also on the amount of mulch needed. The crowded plants provide their own ‘mulch’ of sorts. I also love your themed annual planting, and I’m curious, what would be the colors for “Coronation”? Red, white and blue?

      Like

      Reply

  6. Great color and great project, As for the hole in the deck—our Chicagoland late Springs and moldy Falls, has eaten holes all over our place…! Projects, projects, projects, lol., Sandi

    Like

    Reply

  7. I love green. It’s my favorite color! I have painted quite a few things green. The chairs and sign looks great! 😊

    Like

    Reply

  8. I love English shows it is almost exclusively what I watch. Have you ever seen Escape to the Country? That is a show where people are house shopping in the UK. It is a great way to see all kinds of houses in the UK. I am sure I have seen English Green in many of those houses!

    Like

    Reply

  10. Beautiful. Are you going to paint your door the same color? I’ve seen green crop up in a lot of decorating magazine. Your part of the “In” crowd.

    Like

    Reply

    1. My front door is painted in the Mown Grass, but the door off the deck is a metal door so I’m hesitant to paint it. I picture it getting scratched up rather easily. I think I’ll just let the chairs be the focal point.

      Like

      Reply

  12. Love the new color!! Green is my favorite and I also love the brick houses with green shutters. Good choice!

    Like

    Reply

  13. While reading your blog I realized that I am currently wearing “English Green!” Clearly, it is a color I love. I was in the UK and Ireland last summer and saw that color quite often. I would love to send you a few pictures I took of buildings with that green on them. It is such a happy color! Thanks for the great inspiration as always.

    Like

    Reply

  19. I love English green one of my favorites the chippier the better. Amy Howard has an awesome color called boxwood and Annie Sloan has the beautiful Antibes both of these greens get a work out on my garden projects. I also like waverly’s Fern chalk paint. Your Flower market sign is beautiful what did you use for the base wood and is that a stencil or free hand it’s adorable

    Like

    Reply

    1. If you click on the words ‘a Flower Market sign‘ just above the snowy photo (or right in this sentence), that will take you to my post on creating that sign. But the quick answer to your question is that I used an old cupboard door, and it is a stencil from Wallcutz. Check out the post for all of the details!

      Like

      Reply

  20. Hi Linda,

    Thank you for your blog, which I very much enjoy reading. Being English, I find myself qualified to respond to the question you’ve posed. Well, yes; green is an English thing!

    Here in the UK we refer to the dark shade of green you’ve featured as ‘British Racing Green’; however this is not an exact shade of green and doesn’t have a RAL colour code. Any dark, rich green colour can be called this.

    It can be seen in may places, on front doors, fences, drain pipes, etc., and is a base colour for other traditional painted items such as ‘Castles and Roses’ or ‘canal ware’.

    I hope this is of interest,

    Sherin

    Like

    Reply

    1. British Racing Green! I love it! Now I have to look up ‘Castles and Roses’ and ‘canal ware’ because I don’t know what either of those things are. So I’m off to do some googling, but thanks so much for this info Sherin 🙂

      Like

      Reply

Leave a reply to marigoround39gmailcom Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.