Petition calls for Jill Biden to undo Melania Trump’s changes to White House Rose Garden

Former first lady criticised for replacing cherry trees ‘with a boring tribute to herself’

A view of the renovated Rose Garden at the White House (Getty Images)

An online petition calling for America’s first lady Dr Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff to undo Melania Trump’s changes to the White House Rose Garden has been signed by 40,000 people.

The petition on Change.org says: “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.”

It also says that the changes “ripped away” Jackie Kennedy’s legacy. “We want Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff to take this on and restore the Rose Garden to Jackie's original design,” it says.

The petition aims to get to 50,000 signatures.

The newly renovated White House Rose Garden was unveiled by Ms Trump in August last year when the United States was struggling to contain the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths.

Ms Trump was severely criticised on social media for pushing forward with the renovation despite the pandemic and a civil unrest in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

She had then said that “the very act of planting a garden involves hard work and hope in the possibility of a bright future.”

The White House had said that the renovation would return the Rose Garden to its original 1962 blueprint in an attempted renewal of the design first implemented by Rachel Lambert “Bunny” Mellon during the Kennedy Administration.

The White House Rose Garden was first planted during the Wilson administration, but it was John F Kennedy whose efforts transformed the space, according to The Washington Post. He led the transformation project of the garden, it said.

The Rose Garden was used more frequently during the pandemic to hold news conferences, allowing people to socially distance. It was also the setting for Donald Trump’s announcements of executive orders, speeches, and interviews in a time of national emergency.