Is Trump Planning to Replace the White House’s Historic Rose Garden Lawn?

The White House Rose Garden, widely considered to be America’s most iconic garden, has witnessed over a century of presidential history. But under the leadership of former President Donald Trump, it is now in line to undergo a dramatic change.

Trump announced last week he plans to pave over the garden’s green lawn with a hard surface that is similar to the patio at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The move has set off debate among historians and preservationists, who see it as either a practical upgrade or as an interruption to an important symbol of presidential heritage.

A Century-Old Legacy

Situated next to the Oval Office, the White House Rose Garden has been a site of diplomacy, history, and presidential tradition for centuries. Its birth dates back to 1902 when First Lady Edith Roosevelt, wife of President Theodore Roosevelt, converted what was once a stable yard into a colonial-era garden featuring paisley-shaped flower beds filled with daisies and wild pansies.

The name ‘Rose Garden’ was coined in 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson’s wife, Ellen Wilson, who worked with landscape architect George Burnap to design the first formal rose garden.

The contemporary version of the garden, however, was developed in 1962 under President John F. Kennedy, who wanted a beautiful yet practical outdoor area for White House functions.

This vision was left in the hands of celebrated garden designer Rachel ‘Bunny’ Mellon. She herself subsequently wrote, “Paying little attention to that doubt, [JFK] bubbled with enthusiasm, with fascinating details of how he wanted a garden to appeal to the most discriminating taste, yet a garden that would hold a thousand people for a ceremony. What gardener could resist?”

Mellon worked alongside Washington D.C. landscape architect Perry Wheeler to craft what she described as a ‘green theatre’. The garden’s design featured a central lawn, framed by four magnolia trees, with symmetrical flower beds filled with roses, crabapple trees, and boxwoods.

Throughout the decades, the Rose Garden has been the setting for pivotal events in American history. President Richard Nixon’s daughter, Tricia Nixon, famously married there in 1971, starting a trend of ‘White House-style’ weddings.

It also hosted the signing of the 1994 peace treaty between Israel and Jordan under President Bill Clinton. Recently, it has been the location of Supreme Court nominations and political press conferences.

Trump’s Rose Garden Vision

In an interview with Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham, Trump provided his rationale for covering the Rose Garden lawn with concrete. As cameras rolled while laborers poured down concrete, Ingraham inquired about what was being done, and Trump responded by describing the lawn as having become impractical to host events because it was so wet so often.

What was going on is, it’s supposed to have events,” he said. “Every event you have, it’s soaking wet. It’s soaking wet, and people can’t. And the women with the high heels, it’s just too much.”

Although he intended to take out the grass, he promised that the “roses would be staying.” Trump went on to explain, “The grass just, it doesn’t work. And we have a beautiful stone and everything else. But, you know, we use it for press conferences, and it doesn’t work because the people fall into the, you know, into the wet stuff.”

Plans for the Renovation

Designers have already prepared concepts for the redesign, and Trump is said to be looking at materials such as limestone or an exchangeable hard surface. He has also talked about including hardwood floors to make the area dance-ready, much like the Mar-a-Lago patio, according to sources close to the project.

Historians have spoken out against the changes. One historian, from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, said, “You have an obligation not to step too far outside of tradition in the public spaces,” Timothy Naftali. While presidents are permitted to make their private quarters how they like it, the White House public space is a piece of American history.

At the same time, White House communications director Steven Cheung defended the renovation, saying, “The White House has not been given any tender, loving care in many decades, so President Trump is taking necessary steps in order to preserve and restore the greatness and glory of ‘the People’s House.'”

Melania Trump’s Past Redesign

It is unclear whether Melania Trump, the former First Lady, is in favor of her husband’s newest renovation proposals. Throughout his initial term in office, she led a divisive redone look for the Rose Garden, adding a three-foot-wide limestone walkway, taking away its iconic crabapple trees, and substituting them with white rose bushes, boxwoods, and pastel-colored flowers.

With work underway, Trump’s new look for the Rose Garden is still to come.