President Trump relishes new 'very white' paved-over Rose Garden
WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trump claims he's hearing "great reviews" about his controversial overhaul of the White House Rose Garden, which has turned the garden's famous lawn into a stone patio.
The Rose Garden, which has hosted countless presidential affairs since its 1913 inception, was recently paved over at the direction of Trump, while rose bushes and other vegetation remain on the garden's periphery.
"We’re getting great reviews of the Rose Garden, and we had to do it," Trump told reporters on Aug. 3, adding that the manicured lawn presented problems when hosting events.
"When we had a press conference, you’d sink into the mud. It was grass and it was very wet, always wet and damp and wet and if it rained it would take three, four, five days to dry out and we couldn’t use it really for the intended purpose," Trump said.
The new Rose Garden patio ‒ which resembles a patio at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's resort and home in Florida ‒ features drainage to collect water and the White House emblem along its perimeter.
"It's a beautiful white stone and it’s a stone that’s the same color as the White House itself," Trump said. "And because it’s very white, it’s going to reflect the heat and it’s not going to be very hot. Yeah, we’ve got great reviews of the Rose Garden."
The White House has not released the cost for the Rose Garden overhaul. The project is funded by the Trust for the National Mall, a nonpartisan nonprofit that has raised private funds to support more than $75 million in restoration projects with the National Park Service since 2007.
The project's completion comes after Trump last week announced plans for a $200 million massive ballroom on the east part of the mansion that the president has vowed to pay for with his own money and private donations. Construction is set to begin in September.
In other cosmetic changes to the White House this year, Trump has made over the Oval Office with new gold embroidery throughout and installed two soaring flag poles on the north and south lawns.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.