The most political garden in America is still sowing controversy one year later – By Kate Bennett (CNN) / Aug 14 2021
(CNN)Since leaving Washington last January, there have been only a handful of things that have drawn former first lady Melania Trump out of her social media silence: holidays, the anniversary of Be Best, thanks for birthday wishes.
But nothing has caught her attention, or her ire, like the criticism last week of the White House Rose Garden by noted historian and author Michael Beschloss.
Beschloss on August 7 tweeted his ongoing disgust at what he dubbed the “evisceration” by Trump of the most iconic garden in America. As with most things touched by the Trumps, the Rose Garden has become a political lightning rod. Its massive 2020 renovation, a project overseen by the former first lady, was polarizing to a degree normally reserved for complex policy matters, not posies and sod.
The reconstruction meant removing almost all of the garden’s plants and trees and flowers, digging up an antiquated irrigation system and installing a new one, creating a more cohesive audio/visual apparatus, laying pavers for walkways and replanting just about every shrub and seedling from scratch. At the unveiling, one year ago this month, reviews split mostly down party lines, between those who felt the update was a tribute to Trump’s glamorous aesthetic, and those who were certain the first lady had taken shears to the garden’s bounty to make woodchips for potpourri.
CONTINUE > https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/14/politics/melania-trump-rose-garden/index.html
