Make the Rose Garden Great Again.
That’s the message from over 75,000 signatories of a petition urging First Lady Jill Biden to restore the White House Rose Garden to Jackie Kennedy’s original design.
Last year, Melania Trump renovated the historic area by adding “electrical upgrades for television appearances, a new walkway and new flowers and shrubs,” according to The Guardian. Trump also removed the garden’s famous crab apple trees, planted by Kennedy in the 1960s.
Writing in USA Today, opinion columnist Wendy Sherman said Trump’s changes were “a pale reflection of history. It now appears to be largely a television stage or parade ground, devoid of texture, color or interest.” Sherman added, “we look at the new Rose Garden and see it for what it is, bleak, soulless, austere; not the Rose Garden of our memory or the vibrant soul of our future.”
Jill Biden has offered no indication that she plans to respond to the petition, but she shared a photo of the garden via social media on Friday.
There’s currently construction on the South Lawn of the White House to enable security upgrades – a project CNN reports was postponed by the Trumps because they didn’t want to deal with the noise.
