Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 April 1884 — Carpet Gardening. [ARTICLE]

Carpet Gardening.

The outdoor occupation of the French ladies is carpet gardening. It consists in the laying out of beds on lawns of borders and strips of earth, with shrubs or bedding plants of variegated hues in order to match the shades of Persian carpets and Indian shawls. This style of fancy gardening commenced in France a few years ago; the lovely Japanese carpet in the Trocadero grounds during the late Exposition gave an impu se to this modo of ornamentation. I have seen the border of an Indian camel’s hair scurf, with all its palms and intervening designs, most accurately reproduced on a garden border. Neither is it so difficult to succeed in this as one at first sight would suppose. It is a matter which requires care and foresight chiefly. The height of variegated shrubs and the room they require for spreading have to be acquired: the rest is only a case of painstaking and nicety. The beds of breach lawns set aside for the purpose are prepared by the gardener, who makes all the surfaces perfectly level. When they are ready the ladies lay on the top a paper on which the design has been carefully perforated; the paper, of course, corresponds with the size and shape of the bed or border to be ornamented. All the holes are then tilled with chalk, finely powdered, or sand which leaves a perfect impress on the black mold after the paper has been carefully removed. The plants are afterward sunk into the different compartments marked out for them. If the design is very intricate it is wise to indicate the color and nature of plants to be bedded, by wi'itiug their names on the paper. A plan or paper bed is usually prepared indoors, when the weather will not permit of outdoor exercise. Several gentlemen having property in the environs pride themselves on their carpet lawn, which is the successful attempt of their wives and daughters. The cqst is moderate. A table-cloth design is usually executed in low, cream shrubs.