It's easy being green!

To those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, it will come as no surprise that I love green!

Still, trawling through my photo archives, I was amazed about the number of my outfits containing at least a splash of green.

Among Dove Cottage's homewares and decorative items are quite a few green treasures as well.

Clockwise from top left: miniature enameled copper teapot, vintage apron, Tala pastry cutters and enamelware colander.

Then, of course, there's the garden, at this time of year a lush jumble of greens: a verdant room, its walls clad with cascading ivy.

However, it has only been in the last couple of years that I started being attracted to all things green.

When asked for my favourite colour as a small child, I'd have said blue, hence the blue dresses I often seemed to be dressed in.

In the early 1970s, it would have been that obiquitous colour of the decade, orange, which featured prominently in the wallpaper of my choice.

Then in the late 1970s, and into the early 1980s, I was a Siouxsie & The Banshees fan and wore a lot of black.

My thing for green must have already been lurking in the background, though, as I remember falling in love with a bright green daisy print mini skirt which was on display in a small local department store around 1980.

Oh, how I coveted that skirt, which I envisioned myself wearing with black fishnets and a black top. And my black leather jacket, obviously!

One little problem: it was child sized!  But every time I was running an errand for my Mum, the row of little skirts was winking at me. In the end, the lure of the green skirt proved to be too strong, and there was nothing for it but to try on the largest size which, being of slight built, I'm happy to report fit me perfectly.

And it was money well spent too, as I wore that skirt to death. Hence, it is not the fabric of the actual skirt in the photograph, but rather a well-worn 1970s tablecoth I found at a flea market last year.

It subconciously reminded me of the skirt and, if the print is not exactly the same, the shade of green certainly is.

If you remember, I bought an emerald green quilted dressing gown at a flea market a couple of weeks ago. At the time, I only showed a close up of one of its ruffled pockets, but as Cate told me she'd like to see a full length view, here it is, being worn by Angelica.

That same week, I made another green purchase. Here I was, browsing Think Twice's rails during one of my lunch breaks, when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of bright green in the coats rail.

I have been looking for a green vintage raincoat for years and - if they turn up at all - they are either too small or too large, or the wrong shape, length or fabric.

Could this be what I was looking for at last? Gingerly, I pulled the coat from the rail and ... oh, my: pure 1960s, with those cute metal thingies decorating the pockets and the half belt at the back!

The label confirmed what I'd already suspected, and it was in pristine condition too. Brand new, in fact, as I later found a manufacturing label sewn into one of the pockets. And the good thing is that it fits me!

Vintage shopping is never about a quick fix and sometimes you have to be very patient, but nothing beats the feeling of finally finding what you have been looking for!

I was wearing green last Saturday as well, although its shade was of a very different kind.

This short-sleeved dress in muted grey-greens has a flower print in pink, red and purple, which prompted my choice of accessories: pink belt and ring, and wooden beads in the exact colours of the dress's flowers.

On Sunday, I finally wore my poppy dress, which I combined with a green belt and cardie, to which I'd clipped a fuchsia flower corsage (a hair clip, actually!) in lieu of a brooch.

We were having brunch with Jos's eldest daughter and her family, and went for a walk afterwards, in order to feed a cute pair of donkeys! The family's dog, Stafke, had to be carried part of the way, as the poor little mite, not used to long walks, was getting out of breath.

A final splash of green was worn on Monday: this fresh green polka dot peplum top (a firm favourite from Think Twice) which I combined with a salmon pink floral skirt I charity shopped back in March.

I seem to be in the mood for green and pink, a combination I think is Spring personified.

I'm thinking of pink blossomed shrubs and trees, but also of one of my favourite garden plants, which is currently in bloom, the double Aquilegia 'Nora Barlow'.

I saw a photo of them in a gardening magazine when we first had our garden, and searched high and low, until one winter's day I stumbled across one measly little plant in a local garden centre.

Of course, it being in the middle of winter, I had to have faith as well as patience, but lo and behold: by May its first few buds had appeared which opened into these frilly pink and white flowers, looking almost as if they are wearing crinolines.

Shadowplay through Clematis armandii leaves, kaleidoscope Alliums and dewdrops captured in a poppy flower bud

They are still going strong after all these years and as they self-seed wherever takes their fancy, we now have flowering plants in at least three different locations.

Have you ever been wearing an outfit inspired by a favourite flower?

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