Dr. Jill Biden has spent her first 100 days as FLOTUS repairing the damage done to the Office of the First Lady by her predecessor, Melania Trump. But her work’s not finished yet.
A change.org petition urging Dr. Biden to fix the White House Rose Garden that Mrs. Trump killed has garnered over 43,000 signatures and counting.
Melania had the garden, which was originally planted by Jackie Kennedy in 1962, completely ripped out in 2019. She also had ten perfectly healthy crabapple trees removed for no reason.
It was one of the few things she actually did as First Lady.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Melania destroying the Rose Garden #WasntOnMy2020BingoCard pic.twitter.com/U8in2MoyaE
— Dan Gerous, Inc.?? (@Anythingpork) September 4, 2020
The petition reads:
In 2019, Melania Trump had the cherry trees, a gift from Japan, removed as well as the rest of the foliage and replaced with a boring tribute to herself. Jackie’s legacy was ripped away from Americans who remembered all that the Kennedy’s meant to us. We want Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff to take this on and restore the Rose Garden to Jackie’s original design.
The garden, which is often used by presidents to deliver speeches and hold outdoor press briefings, was the site of a “superspreader event” last September when it was used to celebrate Amy Coney Barrett’s SCOTUS nomination.
Related: Three weeks after its unveiling, Melania’s rose garden is dying and needs emergency repairs
Three weeks after Melania unveiled the new garden design, it had to undergo emergency repairs after experiencing “issues with water drainage” and “some minor complications with updated construction.”
Then the grass had to be completely redone after it was damaged beyond repair during the Republican National Convention, when hundreds of people trampled all over it.
The White House hasn’t yet responded to requests to have the garden restored.
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
Fahd
I’ll sign the petition. Melanie’s damage needs to be undone.
Phillip
The damage the Drumph’s have done to the “Rose garden” need to be erased and restored to Mrs. Kennedy’s original design with some new augmented touches by Dr. Biden so she can add her own complementary artistic touches to it as well.
Melania fell short in the “taste department” when it came to decorating as well as trying to design something that didn’t need to be touched. She was always in competition with other First Ladies, especially Ms. Kennedy whom she couldn’t hold a match up to her shining lights.
henare
This seems important.
missvamp
It’s close to 45k now! Sign it people! The rose garden needs to be restored!
Rock Star
Of all the stupid and mean lying things Melanoma did while First Lady this was the worst.
LEAVE JACKIE ALONE!
How dare you touch Jackie’s rose garden. Please Jill fix this.
Liquid Silver
Signed. Please. If you start a fund, I’ll even donate. I loved the old Rose Garden and the symbolism of the trees.
My home town was gifted cherry trees by our sister city in Japan. They’re a treasured gift to us in our city library’s plaza. I don’t know if we can get new trees or if the old ones were preserved, but…
Harry Bush
The only garden Mel worried about was her hairy bush
mississippiyarddog
The actual history and reasons for changes made to the original garden design is a fascinating read. Some of the present installations make it more inclusive to those with physical exceptionalities than the original design,
Reth
Cool, but does it have to be Dr Biden? I’m sure she has other things she’d rather do with her time.
nmharleyrider
Well you have to write to someone. Writing to your congressperson would do no good at all.
HenryCameron
The petition is factually wrong. The trees removed from the Rose Garden were crab-apples, which had actually been replaced several times in the past 20 years. (The cherry trees are around the tidal basin.) According to the Washington Post, the crab-apple trees had a tough time surviving because they were overshadowed much of the day by a giant willow oak tree planted during the Johnson administration. (Maybe they should have cut that instead, since nobody cares about LBJ.) Ironically, the 2020 refreshment of the Rose Garden was intended to return it to its original ‘62 (Kennedy) footprint.