White House Rose Garden

  The White House Rose Garden is getting more than its share of press lately. As President Trump battles COVID-19, a Rose Garden event announcing Judge Amy Coney Barrett as the President’s Supreme Court nominee is receiving scrutiny as a source of the virus’s spread. According to various news reports, seven attendees of the event have tested positive including President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, White House adviser Hope Hicks, former NJ Governor Chris Christie, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), former advisor Kellyanne Conway, and Notre Dame President Reverend John I. Jenkins. Though not nearly as serious, the Rose Garden was also in headlines this summer as it underwent a renovation. In late July, the first lady announced a significant renewal of the garden due to “decades of use and necessary changes made to support the modern presidency have taken a toll on the garden and have made it more difficult to appreciate the elegant symmetry.” The final design plan was the result of a collaboration by two premier landscape architecture firms, Perry Guillot, Inc and Oehme, van Sweden & Associates/OvS. (The full Rose Garden landscape report is available for download.) The West Garden has been called the Rose Garden since 1913 when Mrs. Ellen Wilson replaced the existing colonial garden with a formal rose garden. The current design is the work of Rachel Lambert “Bunny” Mellon and was installed in 1962 under the Kennedy Administration. Elements of the renovation included returning the Garden to its original ‘62 footprint, improving infrastructure, ...