Easy green

I THINK I’d rather wear my oldest, most unflattering and shabbiest dress of red or pink than don a designer outfit in the dreaded green. Same goes for my house. There is nothing green to be found in it apart from my Christmas tree for 12 days a year, and two jade plants I’m baby-sitting while a friend is in New Zealand, and to which I’m being increasingly and bafflingly drawn.

Yet this morning as I look out the window to see the gentle branches of an olive tree drifting on a spring breeze, set against a selection of the 40 shades coming to life, there seems to be nothing lovelier than green. The scene arrests the eye and makes the troubles of the world dissipate for a moment while watching this development of new beginnings and possibilities.

In feng shui, green is the colour of abundance and prosperity and is the suggested colour for the south east corner of your house — known as the wealth and prosperity area — Feng shui masters advise its application in these locations to stimulate abundance in every sense of the word.