DMC 904 — Very Dark Parrot Green

Think about the underside of a tropical leaf — the way it's darker, denser, almost damp-looking compared to the bright upper surface. That's the chromatic territory DMC 904 Very Dark Parrot Green occupies. It's the color of deep forest canopy photographed from below, of malachite with a bit of shadow in it, of green that has enough darkness to function as a near-neutral while still reading unmistakably as green. Used well, it doesn't call attention to itself; it makes the colors around it look better.

The Parrot Green family is one of the cleaner four-step gradients in the entire DMC range. Running from 904 at the darkest through DMC 905 (Dark Parrot Green), DMC 906 (Medium Parrot Green), and DMC 907 (Light Parrot Green) at the brightest, these four colors cover an enormous value range while remaining in the same yellow-green hue family. The step intervals are reasonably even, which makes them excellent candidates for smooth shading in everything from tropical foliage to frogs to parrots (obviously) to lime-flavored candy in still-life designs.

The Anchor-Free Shading Gradient

One practical advantage of the full 904–907 family is that Anchor, Madeira, and other brands have established exact or close equivalents for the whole range, making it possible to build a complete shading gradient from any major thread brand. For stitchers who work in a mix of DMC and Anchor — common in the UK and Australia — this matters. If you have Anchor 258 for 904, Anchor 257 for 905, and Anchor 256 for 906, you can build a partial gradient without needing to source DMC specifically.

The gradient built from 904 to 907 works particularly well for:

• Tropical and jungle foliage — layering from 904 in the shaded undersides through 907 at the sun-lit leaf tips
• Insects and reptiles — the bright, slightly unnatural quality of parrot green suits exotic animals well
• Stylized botanical prints — the clear, saturated tone reads well at a distance and on small fabric counts
• Geometric patterns — the value range covers enough contrast for complex geometric shading

Working With 904 Specifically

As the darkest member of the Parrot Green family, 904 most often appears in two roles: as the shadow fill in shaded foliage, and as an outline or backstitch color where a very dark (but not black) line is needed. For tropical plant designs especially, using 904 for the backstitch outline instead of DMC 310 (Black) or DMC 3799 (Very Dark Pewter Gray) keeps the palette warm and botanical rather than graphic.

On 14-count Aida, 904 reads as a clean, saturated dark green with no mudding. On natural linen or antique white evenweave, it picks up a slight warmth that actually works well — the slightly yellowed ground emphasizes the yellow component of this yellow-green, making it pop pleasantly. For over-two work on 28-count evenweave, the coverage is excellent; 904 is saturated enough that partial coverage looks intentional rather than sparse.

A word on blended needle applications: combining one strand of 904 with one strand of DMC 500 (Very Dark Blue Green) produces a deep forest green that sits between the two families and reads extremely well as a shadow color in mixed-foliage designs where you want depth without the slightly exotic quality of pure parrot green.