Back in 1902 , First Lady Edith Roosevelt ( wife of PresidentTheodore Roosevelt ) took it upon herself to exchange an region of theWhite Housegrounds that once housed stables for horses and baby carriage into aclassic colonial gardenas part of the Roosevelt refurbishment . In 1913 , First Lady Ellen Louise Axson Wilson ( first married woman of President Woodrow Wilson ) followed her track by replacing what had become eff as the West Garden with a Rose Garden , and President Franklin D. Roosevelt travel on to appoint famed landscape painting architectFrederick Law Olmsted , Jr.(son of the creator of New York ’s Central Park ) to refresh up the design of the Rose Garden in 1935 . In 1961 , under the direction of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy , amateur gardener Rachel Lambert " Bunny " Mellon was enquire to designed the current garden , which go to what is known today as the Kennedy Rose Garden , side by side to the Oval Office and Cabinet Room .
" It was part of a oecumenical landscape painting redesign of the White House composite , " say Dan Roberts , a free arts and story professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia , who also serve as executive manufacturer and host of the syndicated history radio programme " A Moment in Time , " in an electronic mail audience . " The Rose Garden balanced the structure with the East Garden , or Jacqueline Kennedy Garden , on the other side of sustenance quarters in the central and original construction of the White House . This is essentially the Rose Garden we know today . "
How Did Bunny Mellon Become Involved?
It all began at a summertime picnic at Mellon ’s Cape Cod beach house that admit President and Mrs. Kennedy as guests , according to aninterviewMellon channel for the White House Historical Association . " Hardly had the President came ashore from his boat when he suggested we sit down and talk about a garden for the White House , " she recalled in the audience . " He and Mrs. Kennedy had just returned from a state visit to France , followed by plosive speech sound in England and Austria . The president had noted that the White House had no garden adequate in quality or attractiveness to the gardens that he had watch and in which he had been harbor in Europe . There he had recognized the grandness of gardens circumvent an official hall and their appeal to the sensibility of all people . "
President Kennedy ’s goal , according to Mellon : " He want a garden to appeal to the most discriminating taste , yet a garden that would harbour a thousand people for a observance . "
Bunny Mellon’s Vision
According to her interview with the White House Historical Association , Mellon visualize a 50 - by-100 - pes ( 15 - metre - by-30 - m ) lawn — great enough to accommodate 1,000 citizenry for ceremonial bodily process and reception , and small enough to be covered by a tent — flanked in all four corner by magnolia trees , and 12 - foot - wide ( 4 - metre - wide ) borders planted with pocket-sized tree , rosebush and other flower ( include flower used during Thomas Jefferson ’s period in federal agency ) on either side of the big lawn . The plans also called for a platform on the west destruction of the garden , near the Oval Office , and a flagstone patio on the east end to wait on as a place where the president could loosen up and entertain guests or boniface humble luncheon .
To do her design , Mellon sought outIrvin Williams , head gardener of Washington ’s Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens , and then necessitate Jackie to arrange for Williams to be transferred to the White House as master nurseryman , a prestigious job that he bind for almost 50 years . The garden was uncover on April 24 , 1962 , and the first ceremonial social function held there in July 1962 featured the cuss in of Anthony Celebrezze , the former mayor of Cleveland , as the new secretary of health , education and welfare .
Mellon ’s design created the White House Central Lawn so conversant to today ’s TV viewers , grant to Roberts . " It is surrounded by flush beds anchor by crab apple and little - leaved lime tree , " he say . " Hedges of thyme and boxwood are blend with flower beds fulfill with the garden ’s signature tune rose varieties : Queen Elizabeth , Pascali , Pat Nixon and King ’s Ransom . Blooming medulla oblongata of jonquil , daffodil and tulip bust into verdant color in springtime , and summer yearbook paint the efflorescence beds with rich hues until fall when flowering kale and chrysanthemum exalt the garden with coloring almost until early days of winter . "
Historic Events in the Rose Garden
While Kennedy was in office staff , he used the garden to host Peace Corps voluntary before they left for Ghana and Tanganyika ; invited the award - winning University of Arkansas chorus to join him there ; welcomed Algerian premier Ahmed Ben Bella with a 21 - gun military greeting ; and greet the spaceman of Project Mercury . During the Cuban missile crisis , the Rose Garden also do as a spectacular backdrop , as he and advisers contrive a scheme to annul a nuclear war with Russia .
Today , the Rose Garden is kept as a secret reserve for the president to unbend , read , converse with his aides and engage in contemplation , harmonize to Roberts . But , through the years , he contribute , President of the United States also have used the infinite to showcase diplomatic , societal and political result — making significant public announcement , holding press conferences , greet significant guests , bring in political friend and appointees , bait allies for partisan battles , and celebrating Congressional and home triumph .
Among some of the most memorable activities to take place there : " Tricia Nixon was we d to Edward F. Cox in spectacular nuptials in 1971 , " Roberts says , " and President Bill Clinton presided over the declaration of peace between Israel and Jordan in 1994 . "
On Monday , July 27 , 2020 , first lady Melania Trump ’s office release a assertion announcing a massive overhaul of the White House Rose Garden .
