Comparing apples to oranges. Or peaches to corn.

After image was acquired now ( last week).

Before image is from DC tulip season, which arrives quite early.

For a fair comparison, before image should be from August.

I am pleased to see 2 members “personally love it”. As opposed to an impersonal love.

I love it!

rifis I love it both ways lol. It is true in order to be a good comparison they should have chosen the correct seasons for both. I do not know what their summer picture looked before, but I bet it was not full of tulips.

It may have been based solely on security reasons. Too much foliage for potential terrorists to hide in! If I remember correctly there was some guy that got into the grounds a couple months ago and then the shooting we never heard much about outside the grounds just recently. I liked the trees myself, but too much shade for roses.

Showing before and after photos from different seasons is outrightly deceptive, an attempt to cast a negative light on our first lady's results. The unprofessionally poor, slipshod research done on the part of the unqualified article writers is apparent to me. Comparing tulips to roses is nonsense, both are beauties of a different kind and of a different season of bloom.

Yes, the blooming crab apples are lovely, but only for 3 weeks in spring, then they go wonky, both harboring and spreading disease and insect pests to roses. Roses and crab apples don't mix. The shade and root competition makes roses the losers which grow under and around them. Melania was wise to kick those diseasy bums to the curb.

I agree with Ben. It is a garden with roses in it, not a rose garden, but that is a question of numbers and reconfiguring bed design. The more roses and less 'fillers,' the more I think it can be called a true rose garden. I am not a boxwood lover. It's overused almost eveywhere, as it has been in the renovation.

The varieties selected: J.F.K., Pope John Paul II, Peace, etc., are great roses, but black spot magnets in D.C. I hope they call me for my recommendation on a good spray program! 😁

At least an emphasis on white and pastel colored blooms was made. I like that. It's classy, refined, and easy on the eye.

All in all, I'm not impressed with the renovation...doesn't get failing marks from me, but nothing WOW! about it.

I have heard that as the D.C. 'Swamp,' continues to be drained, the sludge removed will be used to feed the roses, a good idea....but it should be aged a couple years to neutralize the toxic elements in it. 😁

Moses

Moses,

I’m glad you pointed out the variety names, they are well known roses for sure, but also respectable and appropriate names. I’d have planted Ch-Ching, Social Climber, Dark Desire, Girls Night Out, and Deelish just for the subversive fun of it.

The trees were certainly more bee-friendly and wildlife-friendly. Does it matter in that setting? I don't know. Can we have formal gardens that are pollinators-friendly or at least aren't harmful (needing pesticides and fungicides to keep them going)? Is there or should there be a cultural shift coming? Just thoughts, no strong opinion.

Nay. Diane

I love the look of the border made for wheelchair access along the edges. It looks classy and functional. Otherwise, aside from moving the crabapples to elsewhere on the property, it looks basically the same as when the Kennedys redesigned it. The flowers all get refreshed seasonal in a garden like this so they are less important to the overall feel. Mostly the upgrades were to drainage and I imagine for electric and lighting for the venues. It is a major meeting place for diplomacy. The flowers are a mere backdrop for its purpose, which is to entertain guests, especially foreign ones.

Glad they got rid of the yellow and red tulips. What an eye sore. New garden is not the style I like but it at least looks nice. It’s also fitting that they picked roses with historical significance like PJP. But the roses are planted too close to each other aren’t they?

I think it’s every bit as classy, imaginative, and appropriate as their gold-plated toilets.

I like it. At least we finally have "ROSES" back in the "ROSE GARDEN".

Instead of tulips maybe narcissus ;)

They add color with the bulbs and annuals. Which are changed out all season. They are probably planting mums and asters right now for fall color.

I think they should have planted all the many roses named after presidents and first ladies! But Ben's selections made me chuckle!

As for the trees, not sorry to see them go. Trees really do not belong in a rose garden. As Moses said, the roses are always the losers in that situation. And besides that, those are just about the MESSIEST trees there are! I know from experience! And they didn't throw them away. They dug them out and relocated them elsewhere so the bees will be happy too!

Over all, I don't think they did a bad job. I just think it could have used a little more pizzazz.

Meh, not a fan of the meatball boxwoods. I guess that style garden isn't my thing. I think they will miss the shade the trees provided though. It was probably due for a re-vamp, it's been 50+ years, can't please everyone though.

Both the before and after are poor choices for a rose garden, mostly because of the boxwood hedges. I realize they lend a formality. But horticulturally, they are a poor choice. The boxwood is a direct root competition. They also compete against the roses for water and food. They really limit air circulation, which is valuable in the battle against fungi. And they are super high maintenance. Can you tell I don't like 'em?

Hugogurll

You forgot to mention that boxwoods smell like cat pee. I’m afraid you painted too rosy a picture of these shrubs , and now everyone will be wanting to plagiarize Melania by integrating the litter box with the rose garden.

Yes, Ben, boxwood do smell of eau de feline pee, and I don't mind a bit. I grow lots of these shrubs, and in certain spots I want them to ward off the horrid deer who hate boxwood. I also have lots of very vigorous roses growing between boxwood. No problem. Diane

Diane,

For both our welfare, I’m far more concerned that if we don’t get a new White House garden designer come November, you‘ll not be allowed to say ‘Nay’ anymore, only ‘Nyet’. Your garden is beautiful, boxwoods and all.

If the powers that be turned me loose in the rose garden I would:

1. Minimize the use of boxwoods....they smell of cat urine, a 'memorable,' aroma blend with the fragrance of Pope John Paul II. Besides, the zig-sagging 'watermelon,' boxwood lines, running up the center of the beds, are a constant trip hazard for the rosarian caregivers. They must walk into such a wide bed to work it. A 10" high, no more, perimeter border is the maximum amount of boxwood material I would use.

2. Tree roses everywhere, all fragrant ones, to waft their scent at nose level, but in good taste. Draws the eye upward, and you can lean in and take a sniff easier than bending down. Makes a person's visit more memorable.

3. Obelisks discreetly placed with columnar climbers gracing them. Focal points to keep the eyes moving and creates greater interest.

4. Lattice-work between every column, with climbing roses adorning them, adding more dimensionality and interest to the garden.

5. You can't have enough benches. The elderly, disabled, and tired need to have a place to rest and drink in the garden's beauty, making the visit a memorable one for all.

Melania, you should have called me first! 😁 I still like you, though.

Moses

Ben, someone may have specifically requested pee-scented shrubbery.

Here we go with politics, again. Do you like the new garden. Yea or nay. Yes I like the garden. It will be beautiful. Or, no, I don't like it. It's not my taste. How God blessed hard is that. I come to this form to get away from everyone's opinion about the world. This is a rose form.

Melania extirpated something beautiful and managed to plant a thing that is antiseptic.

Actually /berrypie7 all articles I have read regarding this renovation mentions it was paid by private donations and NOT taxpayers money.

😁This post certainly shows how not everyone likes the same garden style which makes sense because we are all unique. We all have different gardens with certain color ranges and so on, there is no right or wrong. It is simply impossible to build a rose garden that would please everyone.

No Berry we did not pay for it, it was funded through donations.

Ken, I notice that you pressed "like" on the very political comment upthread that referred to draining the swamp and complained about the terribly unfair press trying to make Melania look bad.

We don't actually know who paid for the renovations. All we know is that the White House is claiming it's being funded by private donors, while refusing to disclose any details about the cost or the source of funds. Perhaps some day we'll find out. Regardless, the White House and its grounds belong to us, the American people.

It would be nice if they would share the Landscape Architect's renderings...

Berrypie - a free praying mantis!! Love it!!

Cat pee!!! I didn't know that!! LOL

I don't like red and yellow together. I love the colors...so restful... of the 2nd picture.

melania is doing a beautiful job. And she will be there for the next 4 more years to make sure no one will be planting tomatoes and cucumbers in the rose garden. ugh!

I love it!!!!! I have a picture as a screen saver that is an old castle that has a rose garden that is like this.... it has the box elders.... or something like that that makes crosses and a perimeter and roses in the center. I just love that.... looks so formal and elegant..... however, I also love the cottage look... with foxgloves, delphinium, and hollyhocks.....

I also LOVE the look of tree roses ie standards, but even though some grow here in Florida, where I live I get no wind protection .... though hurricanes are rare.... knock on wood, I get constant gale winds...

however.... none of those concepts really work for me here in Zone 10 Florida. I have to have my roses spaced further apart than I really want them..... I have to get between them to deal with spider mites and I need more air circulation because of my humidity. I have tried cramming them together because I see pictures of what others do.... but it just doesn't work for me... I have to settle for what mother nature dictates I guess..... but I sure do love that look

I wonder if there is different kinds of the box elders that do not smell.

There are a couple of houses that I walk by that have a hedge like that... One of the houses let theirs grow up to waist high when new people bought it. Before that the previous owner kept it about a foot high. She was out their with a clipper snipping daily to keep it small and round... I loved it like that best.... but of course I never have the time to do something like that..... and I don't notice any cat pee smell walking by it.

I think you mean boxwood, not box elder, which is a tree. My boxwood have a stronger smell in spring. After that, I don't notice it. I grow three different kinds of boxwood, and they all follow this pattern. And by the way, when boxwood are in bloom, their stinkiest time, the bees go crazy for it (does their honey smell like cat pee??). I also don't give them much attention, and I find them low maintenance. But then I don't want perfect shapes. I don't care about that. They get a trim every couple of years. They are watered on our drip system just like the roses, and they have no disease problems (neither do the roses). So, my experience with boxwood is a good one. What really stinks is deer repellent. Diane

I have some box topiary right next to my patio doors and have never noticed any smell. After I read online about the smell, I had to check. It has some smell when it flowers, not pleasant but not unpleasant either and not strong. No smell the rest of the year. I also have a cat BTW and it certainly doesn't smell like cat pee to me.

:) So I don't get it. I guess it's similar with roses, smelling differently to everyone.

BARF!

ETA: NO It is plain Jane just junk. Nothing says garden or beautiful.

Double edit. NAY-NAY-NAY!

I really enjoyed reading this thread. I think the changes pull it more in line with a very very formal (and very European-style) garden, which is a beautiful style but which also certainly signals a very particular set of things (like the dome on the Capitol or the columns on various public buildings, it emphasizes a. the European roots of the US b. tradition and c. restraint). I am enjoying imagining a very different garden in the space (and the different set of public and diplomatic messages about the US it would send!): a glorious mess of native grasses and perennials, perhaps?

I don't care if it is a cliche, I really like boxwood edging. I don't have any myself. I have big boxwood plants. These must be dwarf boxwood? I've never noticed them smelling bad. I have a crabapple tree with roses planted under it and haven't noticed any problem from the tree. Under my tree I have Ballerina, Edgar Degas, X-Rated mini, Purple Lodge, Madame Antoine Mari, The Faun, Munstead Wood, Lyda Rose, and Mme. Plantier, and Crown Princessin Victoria.

I have an informal garden but I definitely can appreciate a more formal garden in certain settings. I like the light colors Melania chose. I'd like to see a more romantic garden added somewhere on the grounds. Or maybe they have something like that at Mt. Vernon.

First Diane you were right boxwood.... don't know why I said box elder.... that definitely would compete for root space. :)

And Second.... you guys made my neighbor think I am crazy! As I went for my walk today, I spent a few minutes stopping along different places.... to sniff the boxwood trying to figure out if it smelled like cat pee.

A second walker stopped and asked what I was doing.... and I told them. Then the owner of the house came out and asked what I was doing. And the person who I just told shouted I was trying to see if her hedges smelled like cat pee. The owner said she did not have cats, but I had to then listen about her feral cat problem. Then she asked me if her yard smelled from all the cats....

Final note, I assured the lady I did not notice any cat pee smell..... either from her boxwood, or from her feral cats. Though I think I have given the little old lady a complex.... Though I think some of you guys should be taking partial blame ..... ;)

We used have huge boxwoods until an unusually cold winter killed them. I hated those things for other reasons , but I never noticed them have a bad smell. I'm super-sensitive to odors, so if they smelled bad I would have noticed. Is it possible that only certain varieties have the cat odor ?

Some people aren't sensitive to the pee smell, just like certain people are "tasters" for phenolphthalein, and certain people taste cilantro is a different way than others taste it. In the last two cases, it's a genetic thing. I wouldn't be surprised if boxwood smelling is dependent on genetics. I grow several kinds of boxwood, and they smell the same. The cat pee smell is much stronger in spring when they bloom. Bees love boxwood at that time, and I'll bet there is some honey out there that tastes like boxwood smells in spring. I've grown boxwood for many years and haven't had a problem at all with winter survival, even during our extra cold winter of 2016-17. What zone are you in, woodrose? Sharon, I'm sorry the neighbor thought you were crazy. Maybe he/she should google "boxwood smell". I'm sure there is a trove of information on that. Diane

Diane, I am totally confused, as I have box hedges (Korean), and they have never flowered in 9 years. I can detect no smell either.

Trish, the flowers are tiny, but, boy, the bees love them. I don't really know what's going on in the case of your boxwood, though you may be a "nonsmeller". Diane

Trish, I just googled boxwood smell, and the consensus seems to be that English boxwood has the scent, but that Asian varieties have little or no scent. The first entry had a photo of the tiny flowers, and mentioned that these are the source of most of the smell--just as I thought. Your Korean boxwood probably doesn't smell. I don't think this variety is sold much around here. Diane

The Washington Post's veteran garden columnist Adrian Higgins wrote about some of the details a while back. Their paywall allows us 3 free articles a month so I usually wait until the end of the month to check in and I just noticed it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/melania-trumps-rose-garden-redo-draws-criticism-but-its-long-overdue/2020/07/28/05b81754-d0c4-11ea-8c55-61e7fa5e82ab_story.html

Aren't they planted a bit too close together? I can't tell now - you get a better idea when the bushes mature.

I'm a little surprised by the hate on boxwoods. D.C gets 30-40" of rain a year and in a well maintained garden there really shouldn't be a problem of competition for water and nutrients. And while some might think they are ubiquitous they are practically historical in Virginia and Maryland. They speak to our own country's history of landscape design. I'm not sure you can find a historical property in either state whose landscape--going back centuries--hasn't relied on them, for the very reason that they are so easy to maintain, look great all year long, and the climate there is so perfect for them.

I have over a dozen of them bigger than 4 feet and probably in the hundreds in hedging both large and small in at least 4 different varieties. I love them as a design element with my roses--a calm and reliable backdrop, a pallet cleanser. In a practical sense, a small boxwood hedge does wonders to mitigate the unsightly problem of lost leaves and legginess of the roses. A great solution where roses are under heavy blackspot pressure like in DC.

I like the new garden. I liked the old one. I'm happy to see some roses back in the Rose Garden. Mostly I don't understand why people want to use something like this to stir up hate for the First Lady. It is all getting so tiresome.

Regardless, the White House has resources and with resources, much 'pretty' can be accomplished, regardless of who commissions it - a Michelle Obama or a Melania Trump.

One of the greatest skills of smart people is their ability to separate their personal sympathies and antipathies from objective facts.

It would be very unlikely that the White House would commission some crappy landscaping work.

That being said...those bloody Christmas Trees...Lord Bless. That was a toughie.

Handmaid's Tale Christmas

So funny, Sharon. About red Christmas trees....I received a Christmas card a couple of years ago with a red Christmas tree on it and I thought it was neat. It was "growing" in a wintry landscape with a big star above...as if something so incongruous was stumbled upon in the wilderness on a dark, snowy night. Picasso painted people with blue skin...not everything is literal. Red trees are just playful , to me. I think as a kid I thought Christmas trees should all be real and of course, green. But now I think those old aluminum trees with rotating colored lights are kind of cool. I bought three little red aluminum Christmas trees at Goodwill one year and they make a miniature forest. I have seen neat pink trees at Pier One.

erasmus_gw, I agree with you. I like all Christmas trees. Of course I am torn between the best.....1) my younger self would have chose the one with presents under it :) Though as I am older presents aren't a real biggie.... unless of course it is a rose bush or a pair of clippers..... or 2) The more natural looking trees still outside covered in snow.... though I only like those in pictures, since living in South Florida I don't have snow, or outside Christmas trees .... unless you can count a palm as a Christmas tree.

I remember when the "silver" trees were all the rage growing up. My parents splurged and bought one with mirrored red balls..... it was so pretty. We were all excited about getting it. It was really cold so we put it together in the kitchen while Mother was cooking to keep warm as she cooked and baked...... then it did not fit through the doorway and we had to take it apart and reput it back up..... it lost some of the shiniest .... but today it brings back good memories.......

Having seen the before and after, some comments: The crabapple trees were probably throwing too much shade on the existing sun loving plants to do well and thrive. These trees were transplanted elsewhere on the white house property. I'm not a fan of boxwoods even that small variety used because if brushed against it, you get that 'cat urine' smell and many boxwoods are now dealing with 'boxwood blight', a fungal disease. As far as the roses, Melania was probably asked if she wanted colorful roses or pastels and the National Arboretum probably chose the pastels. I did see a row of white cleome intermixed with what looked like salvia. Cleome you either love it or hate it. I dislike the thorns on the stems and that it self seeds everywhere. A better white plant would have been larkspur to mix with the purple salvia which I hope is perennial and not the annual one. The sidewalks were needed to comply with ADA requirements. It's not easy rolling a W/C or a rollator over grass. Many on social media complained about the old roses removed that were planted since the mid 1920's and up by each First Lady. (1) they probably died of disease or (2) died of too much shade. Many of the more modern roses are now bred for disease resistance and fragrance & I bet roses were chosen from Kordes (Germany) or Meilland (France) who do hybridize roses now for those 2 characteristics. Just don't tell Donald as we know how much he dislikes our European allies.