WASHINGTON – The White House Rose Garden has been renovated in time for the moment in the campaign spotlight.
First Lady Melania Trump will deliver her speech at the Republican National Conference on Tuesday night from the garden, famous for being near the Oval Office. The three weeks of work on the garden, which was done in the spirit of its original 1962 design, were shown to reporters on Saturday.
White House officials said the renovations were paid for by private donations. They refused to disclose the cost of the work.
The location of the first lady’s speech will simply be one of the ways the Republican National Convention will break with political norms. Federal rules forbid the White House from being the institution for expressive political events, a regulation that many presidents flirt with divorcing.
But the Trump family will be the first to use the executive mansion for a political convention. In addition to the first lady’s address, President Donald Trump will deliver his speech Thursday night from the South Lawn of the White House, where a stage was built over the weekend.
The flowers in the garden are for the most part pastels, favored by 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. A diamond-like form of boxwood was also added, while about a dozen crabapple trees were removed and will be replanted elsewhere on the site.
In addition, a seating area on the east side of the garden – sometimes used by presidents for lunch and other meetings – has been removed and will be replaced by a yet-to-be-announced art installation.
The most visually striking change to the garden was the addition of a 3-foot-wide limestone walkway adjacent to the central lawn. Less noticeable changes include improved drainage and infrastructure and making the garden more accessible to people with disabilities. Audiovisual, broadcast and other technical fixes are also part of the plan.
“Protecting the historic integrity of the White House landscape is a major responsibility, and we will continue our duty as public trustees,” Melania Trump wrote in a report released during the renovations. announced.
Presidents have long used the rose garden as a backdrop for major events, and Trump has increasingly used it for outdoor events, which are considered safer for meetings during the coronavirus pandemic. The president and first lady were present at a reception in the garden on Saturday night.
