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Ever since 1961, when President Kennedy came up with the idea to design the Rose Garden at the west end of the White House, the garden has become an icon by itself.

Designed by the gardener Rachel Lambert Mellon, it has been home to a colorful selection of magnolias, cherry trees, roses, tulips, and other botanical beauties. Both harmonious and subtle, it has framed the view toward the Cabinet Room and the Oval Office and reflected every changing pattern of American history.

But on Saturday, the First Lady unveiled her Rose Garden remake that was meant to bring the space to its original roots. But the redesign received strong backlash on social media with people being far from impressed with the results. The internet dubbed Melania’s makeover “#RoseGardenMassacre,” comparing the result to a lifeless "parking lot." The hashtag is now trending and people have a lot to say about it.

After you're done reading this one, check out our new article on the gardener who stepped in to defend Melania's redesign.

The iconic Rose Garden came to being after President Kennedy and the first lady returned from a state visit to France. In the summer of 1961, they visited the gardener Rachel Lambert Mellon and invited her to bring the space back to life.

In a piece written for the White House Historical Association in the early 1980s, Mellon revealed that “Kennedy noted that the White House had no garden equal in quality or attractiveness to the gardens that he had seen and in which he had been entertained in Europe. There he had recognized the importance of gardens surrounding an official residence and their appeal to the sensibilities of all people.”

The garden was begun in the spring of 1962 and finished at the end of the same year. Most importantly, its creator said that “It was truly President Kennedy’s garden” and he always showed how much he cared about it.

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TheDailyEdge Report

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Kathryn Baylis
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Every time I look at pictures of the ruined—-sorry—-“renovated” Rose Garden, my first thought is “Where TF are the roses”? Then again, we must remember her rows of red “Handmaiden” Christmas trees. A woman of little taste and imagination—-of course, look who she married. Unless drumpf has a meltdown tantrum from sensory overload when he sees too many colors all at once.

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Kathryn Baylis
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And removing old growth trees and roses put in by past First Ladies (who actually were ladies) is unconscionable.

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That Melania Trump took on a task so clearly associated with the Kennedys doesn’t come as a surprise, since President Trump told Fox & Friends that “We have our own Jackie O. It’s called Melania, Melania T.”

Today, the flowers in the garden are largely pastels chosen according to the tastes of the first lady, including taller white roses, which were in honor of the first papal visit to the White House by Pope John Paul II in 1979. The most obvious change to the garden was the addition of a 3-foot-wide limestone walking path bordering the central lawn.

But after the first lady tweeted the first images from her renovation, the new Rose Garden received many mixed reactions.

#7

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eugenegu Report

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OCDRobot
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

100% it looks like a cemetery now. It's so ugly and sad now. What a disgrace.

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Leo Domitrix
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Soul? We don't need soul! Color? We don't need color!"... and that sums up the Trumps IMHO

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#13

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Kesam
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That makes you an expert, and we all know what the Trumps think about experts! (I use the word "think" very loosely here.)

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Kookamunga
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Trump: "It was the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe." What a delusional egomaniacal moron.

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N G
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They've trashed the place, they should pay to make it great again

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Watching
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Private donors include: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and the estate of Jeffrey Epstein.

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Kathryn Baylis
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because they would’ve preferred Nixon over Kennedy. But even Pat Nixon knew better than to cut down Jackie’s trees!

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Kathryn Baylis
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She could go into cemetery landscaping—-since she’ll have to find a job when drumpf goes to prison and all his assets are RICO’d. And she’s now too old for the “modeling” she used to do.

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Kathryn Baylis
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All white. Like he envisions the US—-a country built by diverse groups of immigrants. Including his ancestors, and his wife.

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R L
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Very desponding. How can anyone not like cherry trees? And tulips are so colourful.

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Kathryn Baylis
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, what TF does the drumpf family know about a kitchen garden? They don’t even know where the kitchen is.

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Jo Johannsen
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Puleeease... we are not her (or his) citizens. We are citizens of the US who made a bad choice and are now paying for it.

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Kathryn Baylis
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Once they’re gone, the next First Lady will need to replace the trees with seedlings grown from cuttings of the originals. Thing is, it’ll take 60 years to get them to where they were before she cut them down.

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Kathryn Baylis
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Grass and pavement. The two most ecologically destructive landscaping features.

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#39

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Kookamunga
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Goli Soda, why b***h about the Obamas? Barack isn't currently in office. Instead we have a orange sociopath and his gold digging wife.

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Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

“Empty and bleak like her husband’s presidency”. And our lives for the last 3 years, 7 months. Vote BLUE and we could see a light at the end of a very dark, dank, stinking tunnel.

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Amelia Earhart
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Completely misses the point of a garden... she has made it no more than landscaping for a walkway.

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#45

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Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, the fact of it being historical means you leave it the f**k alone. Maintain it, don’t level it.

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Kathryn Baylis
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh, she’s probably spinning her way out of her grave. Hope she haunts Melania.

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Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Even a cemetery can look more inviting. Hell, she didn’t even put in any statuary to break up the monotony—-though I shudder to think of what kind of statues she’d pick.

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Mama Panda
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am really getting tired of entertainers bitching about homelessness and hunger in the US but will instead rally for support for other countries. Don't get me wrong, I know there are needy people across the globe. My problem is that they will point fingers at people they don't like and accuse them of not helping the problem yet they refuse to help as well. If you don't fix your backyard, you have no business fixing others' backyards.

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Mama Panda
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3 years ago

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Evidently they do as they are all tweeting about it and how horrible it is. Oh hey, ProudSocialist tweeted about it too, he must give a s**t after all.

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Downunderdude
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, guys, you know what the French did to their self-styled Sun King... Get on with it, willya?

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Aoibhneas Bergher
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There were roses there planted by more than a century of First Ladies. This wasn't a renovation or a restoration. It was an erasure

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