DMC 935 — Dark Avocado Green

The specific quality of avocado green that makes it so useful in embroidery — and that gives DMC 935 Dark Avocado Green its particular character — is the yellow component. This is a green with warmth baked in. At #4A5818, it reads as a deep, rich olive-green with a subtle golden undertone that distinguishes it from cooler, bluer dark greens like the Hunter Greens or the Emerald family. Where those greens suggest forest and shadow, the Avocado family suggests warmth: sun-dried grass, old olive trees, the bark of certain shrubs, the deep green of an avocado's flesh near the skin.

In the four-step Avocado Green family — DMC 934 (Black Avocado Green) at the extreme dark end, then 935 (Dark), DMC 936 (Very Dark Avocado Green), DMC 937 (Medium Avocado Green) — there's a notable peculiarity: the shade labeled "Very Dark" (936) is actually lighter in value than the one labeled "Dark" (935). The DMC naming in this family follows a different logic than strict value ordering, which occasionally confuses stitchers ordering from a chart. When building a gradient from darkest to lightest: 934 → 935 → 936 → 937 → lighter avocado options.

The Warmth Factor in Foliage Work

When a design calls for natural foliage with a sun-warmed quality — southern European landscapes, California scrub, Mediterranean herb gardens, olive groves — the Avocado family outperforms the Emerald or Parrot families because it carries the right color temperature. Real plants in hot, sunny climates often develop this slightly olive, yellow-green character as their chlorophyll adapts to intense light. The Avocado Greens in general, and 935 specifically, capture this quality more accurately than cooler greens that suggest lush northern forests.

Herb and vegetable garden designs — increasingly popular in the FlossTube community and in contemporary botanical cross-stitch — find 935 useful for the darker leaf elements of olive, sage, rosemary, and thyme. These plants share a characteristic dried-herb color that lands in the dark avocado range, and using 935 for their shaded areas rather than a standard forest green produces more botanically accurate results.

Pairing With Warm Colors

The warm undertone of 935 creates productive partnerships with other warm-toned threads. DMC 433 (Medium Brown) and DMC 434 (Light Brown) sit comfortably beside 935 in designs that mix green foliage with brown bark or soil elements — the warmth in both color families creates cohesion rather than contrast. Similarly, the copper family (DMC 920, 921) pairs naturally with 935 in autumn designs where orange-red leaves transition against dark olive backgrounds.

At the cool end, 935 bridges naturally to DMC 580 (Dark Moss Green), which shares the olive-yellow quality but is somewhat cooler and less yellow-inflected. Using both in the same design creates a range of dark yellow-greens that reads as natural and varied rather than as two arbitrarily different darks. For stitchers building a comprehensive nature palette, both 935 and 580 deserve a position in the stash.