The White House and White House garden

The White House has been known as the symbol of Presidency and the United States government for more than 200 years. Extended gardens belong to the White House as well.

Planning for the garden began also with President Washington who wanted to plant a botanical garden. The first to open the planting of a garden was John Adams.

Thomas Jefferson completely redesigned the garden. He planted thousands of threes. He decided where the flower garden as well as fences and walls would be located. He also built an arc of triumph flanked by two weeping willow trees on the southern end of the garden, but it doesn’t exist now.

The first White House gardener became Charles Bizet hired by the President James Monroe. When he was replaced by John Quincy Adams also the gardener changed – John Ousley became the gardener for next 30 years. During the Adams’ presidency, the flower garden developed and he planted also fruit trees, herbs and vegetables. Jackson, the next president, had an orangery built to accommodate indoor, year-round gardening, but as the Jefferson’s arc of triumph, it doesn’t exist now. President Hayes started the tradition of planting the commemorative trees. Today, there are three dozens of them.

In 1913, Ellen Wilson established a Rose Garden in the West Garden what remains so until now. President Franklin D. Roosevelt commissioned Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. in 1935 to redesign the gardens. This plan still serves as the basis for the gardens' layout today.

The East Garden, dedicated to Jacqueline Kennedy was redesigned during the Kennedy administration, but not completed until the Johnson administration.

Today, the South Lawn is used for the annual Easter Egg Roll and other large events. Events that are held in the Rose Garden include the annual pardoning of the turkey, and other presidential ceremonies and speeches. There can be seen plants such as magnolia trees, Katherine crab apple trees and a variety of roses. In East Garden one can see flowers such as tulips, hyacinths and chrysanthemums.