Everything is turning green

In early summer everything seems to turn a lush green. I was surprised the first time I came to Italy in July to see how green the countryside and the hills are, in spite of the searing summer heat and the lack of rain. The maize crops are deep green, the vineyards are a bright fresh green, the cypress and olive trees are all shades of green. In England too, June is a month when the countryside is beautifully green. The blossom has given way to fresh green leaves, the beech trees are yet untouched by the dust of summer. To gaze at green woods, fields, and trees is restful to the soul. Gerard Benson,(1931 - 2014) one of the underground poets, who sadly passed on in April this year also saw the joy in the colour green of early summer, as is suggested in these lines.

And still the green, folding in from the wooded hillsides,
The birch leaves and the oak leaves green;
The green grass, starred with tiny white flowers
And small buttercups. Green,
And the dense light from the conifers,
Green. And the quiet slopping lake water. muddy green.

Italy has many beautiful evergreen trees which are dark against the new leaves of the oak and beech trees