in the green road

so much green. May may be my favourite month of the year in England.

the green road

and green leaf prints seem to be the thing. I discovered that sycamore leaves give great green prints, both sides of the leaf too,

sycamore on silky merinodress

after dipping in iron water, sometimes darkening to purplish, mostly those were the leaves with a red-purple tinge, which some trees have when the leaves are young

pearlydress

I now have two great long kimono silk linings printed like this

sycamoreon silk

and this

sycamoreon kimono lining

not sure what to do with them.

jackbythehedgesample

experimenting further, with things in my garden, I found wonderful green leaf prints with jack by the hedge

jackbythehedge

beloved of orange tip butterflies, and those who like tasty wild plants; it also goes by the name of garlic mustard.

mydressfull

so I decided on a dress just for me with this ephemeral wild plant, combined with cow parsley.

my dress

it will be interesting to see how fast it is. I have been wearing a similar one dyed with my banksii rose leaves for eight months, and it has held up well. I think using metal acetates, copper and iron, seems to help with fastness. I washed the jack by the hedge dress and if anything it seemed greener afterwards.

banksii blanket

as for the banksii rose, it is enormous at the moment, and covered in flowers. once they are over it is going to have to have a radical trim, as I can only get in the shed where I keep the pots by bending double, and it is right over the top of several parts of my shed complex.

under the rose

even the workshop is blanketed under it.

rosejug

indoors the flowers have an intense perfume. the double yellow is another banksii, but without the scent.

felbrigg beech

we visited Felbrigg woods, the beech trees there are quite extraordinary.

green beech leaves

more intensity of green

trunk

huge old chestnuts as well

the late oak

at the bottom of the green lane one oak is very late, but it always keeps its leaves until almost Christmas.

reluctant ash

the ash trees are really late this year, only just fully out, right at the end of May; the cold weather has held them back.

curly

Tilda after an expedition into the rape. all sorts of deer, the hares, and the rabbits spend their time under cover in it, she always comes out soaking wet with yellow petals in her coat.

ashbranch rape

here it is at the beginning of the month. now it has almost finished flowering and is shoulder high.

 

 

2 Comments

  1. thanks, I wear the dress almost every day (except it’s a little hot at the moment) I think it HAS faded a bit … only to be expected

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