Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
Renovations are underway at DonaldTrump’sWhite House, with the historic Rose Garden being ripped out in favor of paving.
Recent photos depict heavy machinery at work grading and adding gravel to an area only recently covered by lush green grass and bordered by flowers.
The original feature dates back to the Kennedy era, when then-First Lady Jackie attempted to match the gardens she had seen in Europe.
Highlights
- Renovations are underway at the White House, replacing a nearly 60-year-old Rose Garden with paving.
- Trump justified removing the historic terrain, citing press conference logistics and high heels.
- Critics on social media and historians are slamming the redesign.
BP Daily - Your Source for Unbiased Reporting
It’s not the first time the Trump administration has ripped up the Rose Garden
Image credits: White House / Joyce N. Boghosian
Speaking to Fox News‘ Laura Ingraham, President Trump justified the overhaul, saying, “You know, we use [the Rose Garden] for press conferences, and it doesn’t work because the people fall.”
“The terrain can be wet, and the soft ground can be an issue for some,” he said, as a nod to the approximately 7 to 9 inches of rain Washington, DC, gets annually.
“Women, with the high heels… it just didn’t work,” he continued.
Image credits: Drew Angerer / Getty
Leading up to the work in the area, which started on June 9, a spokesperson for the White House told the press that despite the change, Trump and his wife, Melania, had a “deep respect for the history of the White House and for the Rose Garden.”
“This restoration to the Rose Garden preserves the beauty of the space and builds on the work done in 2020,” their statement to PEOPLE continued, referring to work done by the first Trump administration.
The White House garden, at one point, became a controversial “lightning rod”
Image credits: Kayla Bartkowski / Getty
Leading up to Trump’s departure from the White House in 2020, the country’s 45th president and his wife had removed all the fauna growing in the area to replace an aging irrigation system.
The project included the laying of paved walkways and the replanting of all the greenery.
After former president Joe Biden took the Oval Office, the garden’s historian, Michael Beschloss, became vocal about his dislike for the alteration.
Image credits: Anadolu / Getty
He vented his dissent on X regularly, to the point that it drew a reaction from a usually reserved Melania, and it was not long before CNNreported on it, describing the garden as a controversial “lightning rod.”
Two new flags and a ballroom are on the cards for the White House
In a recent statement to PEOPLE, a White House official explained Trump’s continued work on the project, saying it was focused “on enhancing practical use and guest experience for those attending special events.”
Speaking to the Spectator Magazine’s Ben Domenech in February this year, Trump also shared his vision for the garden, saying:
“I think it’s actually going to look better. But some people would like to leave it. But the problem is you can’t.”
He noted that he also planned on adding another feature.
Image credits: Harris & Ewing Collection / Library of Congress
“So one of the things I’m going to do is build a beautiful, magnificent ballroom at the White House,” he told Domenech.
He also indicated that he planned on placing new flag poles on the north and south lawns.
He told reporters in April: “We’re putting up a beautiful, almost 100-foot-tall American flag on this side, and another one on the other side. Two flags, top of the line.”
Image credits: The White House Historical Association
They’ve needed flagpoles for 200 years. It was something I’ve often said, you know, they don’t have a flagpole, per se.”
Social media is not enthusiastic about the renovation
Not everyone is enthusiastic about the alterations, and the discussion spilled out onto social media.
Image credits: White House / Andrea Hanks
One person predicted that the paving would not last. In response to the story’s appearance on social media, they wrote: “In a few years time that pavement will be torn out and a garden replanted! Bank on it.”
“I would like to see before and after photos’ I hope its recorded for our viewing,” another chimed in.
One person’s thoughts were with the first lady who planted the garden when they said: “Thank God Jackie Kennedy isn’t around to see this!”
Social media thinks they paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Poll Question
Total votes ·
Thanks! Check out the results:
Total votes ·
Newsletter
Subscribe to Access
Exclusive Polls
By entering your email and clicking Subscribe, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Privacy Policy.
Thank you! You've successfully subscribed to newsletters!
What do you think ?
Mike T 5 months ago
The president is a tenant, not an owner. Major projects should be approved beforehand.
olaff 422 5 months ago
And one more point for the braindead cultist. Being president does not make him the owner of the White House. I, the American taxpayer, owns it, you twit.
Load More Replies...
Chippy Chap 5 months ago
Everybody liked that garden. It was put in by Jackie Kennedy, and I think it brings softness and beauty to a place of political power that is also a home. He is a tenant and that house belongs to the people.
g90814 5 months ago
The tRumps ruined it in their first term. Just finishing the job now.
Load More Replies...
WonderWoman 5 months ago
Trump and Elvira p**n star will do everything to remove any kind of beauty in the world.
Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
Elvira is a horror movie hostess on TV. If you mean Oranina's wife, it's Melania.
Load More Replies... Damned_Cat 5 months ago
#Dave Malyon: You wrote, (the) "president and his wife had removed all the fauna growing in the area to replace an aging irrigation system." Fauna means animals. I think you mean flora, the plant life.
SchadenFreudian Psychology 5 months ago
Fvck Trump and fvck everybody who voted for him. I hope everything bad that Trump does affects each of his supporters personally.
michael Chock 5 months ago
He claims he is "not a king" while he gives military titles to tech lords, hosts military parades and builds ballrooms.
Philly Bob 5 months ago
He's building a ballroom for himself. He knows the white house belongs to him. He's "dear leader" for life. Watch as midterms get cancelled and his court minions decree that he can run again for a third term because their "understanding" of the constitution says he can. No other reason than they said so. And it'll be a 6-3 vote. I wonder why?
Load More Replies... 
The Darkest Timeline 5 months ago
Dude is determined to prove his authoritarian bonafides by trying to make the White House into a palace; gilding all over the place, a ballroom, huge flags flying over it to please the “patriots” who, having apparently lost their appetite for opposing tyrants, will obsequiously lap it all up.
Jrog 5 months ago
"the country’s 45th president and his wife had removed all the fauna growing in the area to replace an aging irrigation system." BP, I understand you get your editors on the cheap, but understanding the difference between "Flora" and "Fauna" is in the elementary school curricula...
General Anaesthesia 5 months ago
Washington D.C. gets approximately 39 inches of rain every year, not 7 to 9 inches. And the US may not be a classless society, but DJ "Heroic Bone Spurs" Trump certainly is.
featherytoad 5 months ago
I bet he's the one that's falling in that area of the WH grounds.
Load More Replies... Sera 5 months ago
Something tells me this is all a lead-up to him renting the White House out as a ~venue~ where he pockets all the money from Mar-a-Lago and insists his time can’t be spent working because he isn’t at the White House so might as well play some more golf.
Nikole 5 months ago
I fully expect him to at least start renting out the Lincoln bedroom.
Load More Replies...
Shelli Aderman 5 months ago
With one swoop of his pen, he rewrites history for the worse. Again. 😔
Mark Savoie 5 months ago
Donnie Little Di… sorry … Donnie Small Hands is clearly trying to destroy everything that is America.
Analyn Lahr 5 months ago
Don't have press conferences when the ground is wet. Don't wear high heals on grass. That's all you have to do you keep Jackie's garden you nitwit.
UpupaEpops 5 months ago
Judging by the look of the women around them, I'm not sure if they are physically capable of walking in flats any more...
Load More Replies...
Ty Stratton-Quirk 5 months ago
'Citing press conference logistics and high heels.' Well, he could have held press conferences somewhere else, and why the heck is he wearing high heels?!?
Janelle Collard 5 months ago
"He's paved paradise and put up a parking lot..." (Apologies to Joni Mitchell.)
MagicJacket 5 months ago
Probably doing this just to pi$$ people off. Besides love of money and a desperate need for attention and approval, Trump HAS to be a d!ck to people as much as he can. He is ALWAYS an a$$hole. It is his default setting.
Barbara Schubert 5 months ago
What gives him the right to do anything to that house? It belongs to the American people (and he has notoriously horrible taste).
Andrew Burke 5 months ago
" ... the country’s 45th president and his wife had removed all the fauna growing in the area". Removed all the FAUNA?!
Lyone Fein 5 months ago
All changes are upsetting to people at first. I think we just have to wait and see what the finished project looks like before judging.
Kabuki Kitsune 5 months ago
Hate to tell folks, but this isn't the first time a president has done something like this. For example, the west wing of the white house, was originally a pool area. Not the offices it is today. In fact, 1948-1952: Harry S. Truman oversaw a major reconstruction that gutted and rebuilt the interior of the main building. Here's a link from the White House History group that details more: https://www.whitehousehistory.org/questions/has-the-white-house-ever-been-renovated-or-changed#:~:text=Yes%2C%20many%2C%20many%20times!,major%20renovation%20by%20Harry%20S.
Mike T 5 months ago
The president is a tenant, not an owner. Major projects should be approved beforehand.
olaff 422 5 months ago
And one more point for the braindead cultist. Being president does not make him the owner of the White House. I, the American taxpayer, owns it, you twit.
Load More Replies... Chippy Chap 5 months ago
Everybody liked that garden. It was put in by Jackie Kennedy, and I think it brings softness and beauty to a place of political power that is also a home. He is a tenant and that house belongs to the people.
g90814 5 months ago
The tRumps ruined it in their first term. Just finishing the job now.
Load More Replies... WonderWoman 5 months ago
Trump and Elvira p**n star will do everything to remove any kind of beauty in the world.
Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
Elvira is a horror movie hostess on TV. If you mean Oranina's wife, it's Melania.
Load More Replies... Damned_Cat 5 months ago
#Dave Malyon: You wrote, (the) "president and his wife had removed all the fauna growing in the area to replace an aging irrigation system." Fauna means animals. I think you mean flora, the plant life.
SchadenFreudian Psychology 5 months ago
Fvck Trump and fvck everybody who voted for him. I hope everything bad that Trump does affects each of his supporters personally.
michael Chock 5 months ago
He claims he is "not a king" while he gives military titles to tech lords, hosts military parades and builds ballrooms.
Philly Bob 5 months ago
He's building a ballroom for himself. He knows the white house belongs to him. He's "dear leader" for life. Watch as midterms get cancelled and his court minions decree that he can run again for a third term because their "understanding" of the constitution says he can. No other reason than they said so. And it'll be a 6-3 vote. I wonder why?
Load More Replies... The Darkest Timeline 5 months ago
Dude is determined to prove his authoritarian bonafides by trying to make the White House into a palace; gilding all over the place, a ballroom, huge flags flying over it to please the “patriots” who, having apparently lost their appetite for opposing tyrants, will obsequiously lap it all up.
Jrog 5 months ago
"the country’s 45th president and his wife had removed all the fauna growing in the area to replace an aging irrigation system." BP, I understand you get your editors on the cheap, but understanding the difference between "Flora" and "Fauna" is in the elementary school curricula...
General Anaesthesia 5 months ago
Washington D.C. gets approximately 39 inches of rain every year, not 7 to 9 inches. And the US may not be a classless society, but DJ "Heroic Bone Spurs" Trump certainly is.
featherytoad 5 months ago
I bet he's the one that's falling in that area of the WH grounds.
Load More Replies... Sera 5 months ago
Something tells me this is all a lead-up to him renting the White House out as a ~venue~ where he pockets all the money from Mar-a-Lago and insists his time can’t be spent working because he isn’t at the White House so might as well play some more golf.
Nikole 5 months ago
I fully expect him to at least start renting out the Lincoln bedroom.
Load More Replies... Shelli Aderman 5 months ago
With one swoop of his pen, he rewrites history for the worse. Again. 😔
Mark Savoie 5 months ago
Donnie Little Di… sorry … Donnie Small Hands is clearly trying to destroy everything that is America.
Analyn Lahr 5 months ago
Don't have press conferences when the ground is wet. Don't wear high heals on grass. That's all you have to do you keep Jackie's garden you nitwit.
UpupaEpops 5 months ago
Judging by the look of the women around them, I'm not sure if they are physically capable of walking in flats any more...
Load More Replies... Ty Stratton-Quirk 5 months ago
'Citing press conference logistics and high heels.' Well, he could have held press conferences somewhere else, and why the heck is he wearing high heels?!?
Janelle Collard 5 months ago
"He's paved paradise and put up a parking lot..." (Apologies to Joni Mitchell.)
MagicJacket 5 months ago
Probably doing this just to pi$$ people off. Besides love of money and a desperate need for attention and approval, Trump HAS to be a d!ck to people as much as he can. He is ALWAYS an a$$hole. It is his default setting.
Barbara Schubert 5 months ago
What gives him the right to do anything to that house? It belongs to the American people (and he has notoriously horrible taste).
Andrew Burke 5 months ago
" ... the country’s 45th president and his wife had removed all the fauna growing in the area". Removed all the FAUNA?!
Lyone Fein 5 months ago
All changes are upsetting to people at first. I think we just have to wait and see what the finished project looks like before judging.
Kabuki Kitsune 5 months ago
Hate to tell folks, but this isn't the first time a president has done something like this. For example, the west wing of the white house, was originally a pool area. Not the offices it is today. In fact, 1948-1952: Harry S. Truman oversaw a major reconstruction that gutted and rebuilt the interior of the main building. Here's a link from the White House History group that details more: https://www.whitehousehistory.org/questions/has-the-white-house-ever-been-renovated-or-changed#:~:text=Yes%2C%20many%2C%20many%20times!,major%20renovation%20by%20Harry%20S.
You May Like
Related on Bored Panda
16
75