Presidential Plantings
Notable Species of the White House Gardens
In probably what will become the longest-winded way of saying “we’re closed on Monday, February 19th”, we thought, what better way to celebrate our founding fathers than by delving into some of the plants that define the gardens surrounding the White House. A continual, communal project amongst almost each of the 46 presidents in office, it can be said that plants and gardening are non-partisan activities with a shared enthusiasm nationwide, regardless of political affiliation.
While the vegetable garden, Rose Garden, and ubiquitous tulip collection have all gained a bit of notoriety throughout their years, it is the shade trees that decorate the landscape surrounding the White House which act as stately natural monuments, providing structure, shelter, and visual breaks from the expansive, perfectly manicured lawn. John Quincy Adams, the 6th President of the United States, was known for being a tree lover and aficionado, constantly collecting chestnuts, acorns, and samaras and planting them around the White House grounds. He had a particular love of American elm trees, and in fact, one of the last standing American elms from his administration held out until 1991 during the first Bush administration, at which point First Lady Barbara Bush promptly replaced the beloved elm with its own propagated offspring. Adam’s second-generation elm, thanks to First Lady Barbara Bush, still stands on the South Lawn to this very day.
This isn’t the first or only presidential second-generation offspring propagated from an old, beloved tree, either: a Southern Magnolia belonging to the wife of Andrew Jackson was planted as a cutting from his original specimen at his home in Tennessee. The magnolia was a favorite of his late wife, Rachel, who had passed in an untimely fashion only days after Jackson won the first of his two elections. Jackson’s Southern magnolia became a staple of the White House grounds, known as the “Jackson Magnolia” for almost 200 years before its unfortunate removal in 2017. Luckily, it too “was replaced by a slip propagated from the original”. The act of planting commemorative shade trees on the White House lawn, specifically in the area known as “President’s Park”, an 82-acre patch surrounding the mansion, began with 19th President of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes in 1870. At the time, Hayes had planted approximately three dozen trees, representing each state and President up to that moment in time.
Thankfully, this tradition was continued by preceding Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, and Ronald Reagan, to name a few, each respectively having added various white oaks, a sugar maple, and a scarlet oak to President’s Park. Oaks always seem to be a popular tree selection amongst the presidents – Lyndon B. Johnson, famous husband of (arguably) even-more-famous Lady Bird Johnson, was responsible for including a willow oak to the White House lawn. Meanwhile, Lady Bird was busy organizing a roadside wildflower-planting initiative as well as the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Texas. Lady Bird Johnson is also responsible for redesigning the East Garden following the Kennedy administration, planting it full of seasonal perennials and shrubs for hedging. Following the end of its construction, Lady Bird designated the East Garden as the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, which it’s still known as to this day.
Other seemingly classic tree choices of past Presidents may surprise you – George H. Bush and Barack Obama both opted for Littleleaf Lindens, with the latter choosing his tree in an attempt to replace an unfortunate scarlet oak that the younger President Bush had tried planting the year prior to replace a specimen installed in 1889 by Benjamin Harrison. Turns out some of our past Presidents are more eco-minded than we thought. Not only are Littleleaf Lindens quick, low-maintenance growers, but they’re also touted as one of the best flowering trees for bees. Another native selection, Cornus florida, was chosen by both President Bill Clinton and his predecessor George W. Bush, the latter opting for a pathway of ‘Cherokee Princess’ flowering dogwoods to commemorate his daughter Jenna’s wedding in 2008. The former chose the white flowering dogwood to represent the loss of 34 Commerce Department employees, along with his Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, in a catastrophic plane crash. One must wonder what the symbolism of dogwoods are, to represent both loss and hope in two completely opposing situations. Typically associated with Easter and springtime, flowering dogwoods are thought to be symbolic of renewal, rebirth, and new beginnings. First Nations people such as the Cherokee revered the flowering dogwood to be a symbol of protection as well as a symbol of renewal. Subconscious or not, it seems that both of these Presidents had the right idea in mind when using Cornus florida specimens to honor their lost and loved ones.
But what about everyone’s favorite two Presidents? Ya know, the one that this federal holiday is all about? Turns out, they had favorite trees, too. President Lincoln famously planted honey locust, Gleditsia triacanthos, with one particular specimen which became known as the “witness tree” – the last surviving honey locust to have seen Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Should you be interested in collecting a sapling of one of Lincoln’s historic honey locust trees, luckily for you the Historic Gettsyburg Adams County Preservation Society has you covered.
George Washington, on the other hand, was known for planting tulip poplars (Liriodendron tulipifera) at his Mount Vernon home, due to the White House not being built yet (plans for construction began the year that Washington was inaugurated, and physical construction wasn’t completed until John Quincy Adam’s reign in 1800). Washington, who frequently entertained guests Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and French general Marquis de Lafayette, happily traded seeds with his friends and gifted tulip poplar saplings to Marie Antoinette, which would eventually be planted at Versailles. Thanks to ol’ George, Mount Vernon has been designated as an American landmark complete with stunning gardens a quarter-mile-long walking trail curated by the man himself, encompassing approximately 6 acres in gardens and hundreds of acres of surrounding woodlands. Today, American Heritage Trees offers saplings of Washington’s historical trees, including American Hornbeam, Eastern Redbud, Sourwood, Sweet Gum, Sycamore, and Yellow Buckeye.
If traveling to Washington, DC, or Mount Vernon, VA, isn’t in your plans this spring, luckily for you we offer quite the selection of trees mentioned in this week’s newsletter. While some of them have late spring and summer ready dates, we just wanna get the ball rolling in your head now about which presidentially pertinent plants will bring a stately presence and timelessness to your next installations. Below is a current and future inventory of aforementioned shade trees that are or will be available this year:
11 Things You Never Knew About the Presidential Gardens | Architectural Digest
Botanic Notables: Presidential Trees | Garden Design
- famous trees of the White House - (mygardenlife.com)
White House Gardens (archives.gov)
Symbolism Of Dogwood: History, Meanings, And Cultural Significance | Garvillo
Overview - Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Fall Foliage at the White House - White House Historical Association (whitehousehistory.org)
George Washington - Mount Vernon - American Heritage Trees
White House - Architect, Facts & Layout (history.com)
The White House Gardens and Grounds - White House Historical Association (whitehousehistory.org)
Higgins, A. (2018, May 29). A historian gets gardening inspiration from his subjects: u.s. presidents. The Washington Post. Retrieved 2024, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/a-historian-gets-gardening-inspiration-from-his-subjects-us-presidents/2018/05/28/51d3a7fe-5f72-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html.