Thursday, 27 March 2025 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: North America / Nordamerika Category/Kategorie: GeneralReading Time: 4minutes
The White House Rose Garden is a garden bordering the Oval Office and the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., United States. The garden is approximately 125 feet long and 60 feet wide (38 metres by 18 metres, or about 684m²). It balances the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on the east side of the White House Complex. It is commonly used as a stage for receptions and media events due to its proximity to the White House.
Prior to 1902, the area of the present-day Oval Office, Cabinet Room, and Rose Garden contained extensive stables housing horses and coaches. There was also a conservatory rose house in the area. During the 1902 Roosevelt renovation of the White House, First Lady Edith Roosevelt established a “proper colonial garden” in place of the conservatory.
Ever since then, roses have served as the primary flowering plants in the garden, including large numbers of ‘Queen Elizabeth‘ grandiflora roses, along with the tea roses ‘Pascali‘, ‘Pat Nixon’, and ‘King’s Ransom‘. A shrub rose, ‘Nevada‘, also served to add a cool note of white coloration to the landscaping. Seasonal flowers are further interspersed to add nearly year-round color and variety to the garden. Some of the Spring blooming bulbs planted in the Rose Garden include jonquil, daffodil, fritillaria, grape hyacinth, tulips, chionodoxa and squill. Summer blooming annuals are changed on a near yearly basis. In the fall, chrysanthemum and flowering kale bring color leading all the way up until the early winter days. In a tradition, every summer sees garden gnomes placed throughout the Rose Garden on July 1 – the number representing the number of living presidents at that time.
The phrase “Rose Garden strategy” (such as a re-election strategy) refers to staying inside or on the grounds of the White House, as opposed to traveling throughout the country. For example, Jimmy Carter‘s initial efforts to end the Iran hostage crisis (1979–1981) were a Rose Garden strategy because he mostly held discussions with his close advisers in the White House rather than traveling to elicit public support. Four years earlier, Carter had accused Gerald Ford of the same thing and said that President Ford was using White House actions to garner free publicity while as challenger, Carter had to struggle for press coverage.
