Wearing something green on St. Patrick’s Day has been a tradition since immigrants, particularly in the United States, transformed the holiday into a largely secular event celebrating all things Irish. Cities with large numbers of Irish immigrants staged parades going back to 1737 in Boston and in New York City since 1762. Although blue was the color traditionally associated with St. Patrick, green is now commonly connected to this holiday with shamrocks high on the list of things to wear on this day.

On Thursday, March 20th at 2:01am the day and night will be almost equal. That’s why it’s called the Spring or Vernal Equinox. Some years it falls on March 19th. It would occur on the same day every year if the Earth took exactly 365 days to make a complete revolution around the Sun. But it actually takes the Earth 365.25 days on average to go around the Sun once. Whatever the exact date and time it’s spring and with St. Patrick’s Day also in a few days I plan to add something green to my garden and tick off a few tasks on my to-do list.

There are endless shades of green in nature because color is dependent on light. Humans can see more shades of green than any other color. This is an evolutionary trait handed down from our ancestors who needed to differentiate the shades of green in order to know which plants to eat and which to avoid. Everywhere you look, it’s green- forest green, apple green, olive green, fern green, sage green, chartreuse green. Even all those showy flowering trees blooming now will soon be sporting bright green leaves.

I often get a request for green to be in the color palette of plants that go into a garden. There are green flowers that you can grow and of course, many shades of green foliage. The low wavelength of green promotes calm, relaxation and restfulness.

One of my favorite groundcovers for sunny areas that looks beautiful as it fills in between other low water use plants is Diamond Heights ceanothus. Carpet an area with this dense, low mat of golden yellow and lime-green variegated foliage. It looks great year round. The pretty light blue spring flowers take second place to the leaves.

This is one of those versatile plants, performing just as well in dry soils and tough situations as it does in sheltered gardens with partial shade and rich soils. If you want a spectacular effect, plant it as a group. Each plant covers 3-5 ft. Because the foliage makes a cover that weeds seldom manage to penetrate, it’s a real maintenance saver. Use it on difficult sites such as banks as well as in garden beds and raised beds. It’s also a stunner as a container plant, the foliage spreading wide on all sides.

Another great greenish flowering shrub to try is Safari Goldstrike Conebush. This leucadendron is a vigorous compact grower to 6 feet tall and blooms during the winter and spring. Its bracts are excellent as a cut flower and foliage harvesting. They grow in full sun and have low water needs.

Some of my favorite plants that have green flowers or shades of green foliage are green hydrangeas, green hellebores, lime green coral bells, Lady’s mantle, Sum & Substance hosta, fatsia japonica, green gladiolas, Mediterranean spurge and Bell of Ireland, of course