White House garden tours offer an inside look at Trump’s transformations

By Riane Lumer, Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — The White House opened its gates to members of the public for the annual spring garden tours this weekend, offering DC locals and tourists a chance to roam its outdoor grounds and view the South Lawn, trees planted by former presidents, and see its historic gardens in bloom.

This year, though, the ticketed, self-guided event is a new experience.

The Rose Garden has been transformed, construction is underway on President Donald Trump’s sprawling East Wing ballroom addition, and the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden — a key stop on the tour for decades — is absent.

The seasonal garden tours have traditionally offered visitors free-range access to the Rose Garden, Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, White House Kitchen Garden, and Children’s Garden. But this weekend’s offerings only underscore the sweeping changes that Trump has sought to impose upon the White House — paving over the grassy Rose Garden with stone pavers, installing gold accents and a “Presidential Walk of Fame” along the West Colonnade, and razing the Kennedy Garden along with the East Wing last fall to make way for the new ballroom, which is currently embroiled in legal challenges.

Trump, a former real estate developer, has been personally involved in the details for all of his White House makeover projects — from design to stone selection — and his Rose Garden continues to evolve, with a new series of sculptures added in recent weeks, one depicting George Washington, and another symbolizing the founding fathers.

And landscape plans for the area where the Kennedy Garden once sat suggest little visual reference to its predecessor, instead featuring a grand staircase and round brick patio with “original Mount Vernon brick.”

There are no plans to move the garden, dedicated in honor of the former first lady’s stewardship of the White House, to another location on the grounds, a White House official said, though some of the trees and shrubbery will be replanted. The garden’s I.M. Pei-designed pergola, the official added, “is being preserved and will try to be incorporated in the new landscape design,” though it has not been included in any of the plans.

Tours begin

On the first day of the tours this year, visitors passed white barricade walls shielding construction of the ballroom project and the site of the former East Wing. Cranes were visible above the grounds.

It was Cole Eckhardt’s first time on a White House garden tour, but they nonetheless felt the construction “took away from the experience,” describing it as “an eyesore.”

“It’s really disheartening to see all of the construction,” Eckhardt told CNN, standing beside the Rose Garden. “I don’t really support this new wing that’s being built.”

Later on the tour, Lucy Kim, a current intern for a GOP congressman, said she did not find the ongoing construction distracting.

”It looks like the Rose Garden is in the works. But with lots of music, great weather, it has been a great experience,” said Kim, who added she expected the tour to be “a bit longer.”

The Rose Garden was overtaken by active construction Saturday, with workers moving through the space and the sounds of machinery blending in with, and at times overshadowing, the music from the Marine Band.

One space that has remained largely unchanged during Trump’s tenure is the White House Kitchen Garden, planted by first lady Michelle Obama in 2009 as a produce garden featuring fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs, and even two honey-producing beehives for the first family and their guests.

This year, the Kitchen Garden was closed off from public access. Visitors could observe but were not permitted to walk near or through the space, unlike in previous years.

A nearby sign featured a photo of Melania Trump participating in a harvesting and planting event with the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington 2017.

The garden tours, first established by first lady Pat Nixon in 1972, offer a glimpse at ever-evolving history at the White House. Presidents have long left their imprint through planted symbols of diplomatic relations between nations or memorial commemorations. The Bidens planted five trees during their tenure, the Clintons planted four, and the Trumps have planted three – each commemorating a special occasion or honoring history.

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