Ronald Reagan: The White House Gardens
Preserving the beauty of the White House and its surrounding lush gardens was important to President and
Mrs. Reagan. In fact, before leaving Washington, they added a Willow Oak to the collection of historic trees and the
President issued his famous Arbor Day Proclamation in 1988:
The President planting the Willow Oak in 1988
``He who plants a tree / Plants a hope,’’ wrote Lucy Larcom .. that thought has surely motivated
every American who has ever celebrated Arbor Day, given his neighborhood and Nation the
lovely and lasting gift of trees, or sought to conserve our natural forest heritage. In this spirit we
can all join in observing an Arbor Day in which we resolve to renew and expand our knowledge
of and appreciation for trees and our understanding of the importance of trees and forests to
our country and to the entire world.
… The idea of Arbor Day caught the imagination of many people; for example, on the first Arbor
Day, in Nebraska in 1872, citizens of that State planted a million trees, and they added about
350 million more in the next 16 years.
This tradition continues, on Arbor Day and every day; we Americans have planted more trees each year for
the last 6 years, and last year’s total acreage of trees planted was a record.”
© 2014 The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
Beyond trees, recognition of the rose as our national floral emblem began during the Reagan administration
in 1986 by noting:
“ We have always cultivated roses in our gardens. Our first President, George Washington, bred roses,
and a variety he named after his mother is still grown today. The White House itself boasts a beautiful
Rose Garden. We grow roses in all our fifty States. …
The American people have long held a special place in their hearts for roses. Let us continue to cherish
them, to honor the love and devotion they represent, and to bestow them on all we love just as God has
bestowed them on us.
Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim
the rose as the National Floral Emblem of the United States of America.”
Nature was seen as the most respectful way to express one’s profound appreciation and the White
House gardens provided a constant source of historical gratitude. In 1988, President Reagan presented Senator
Howard Baker, Jr. with a cutting from the White House magnolia, planted by Andrew Jackson in 1835 in honor of
his wife, Rachel. The President’s devoted chief-of-staff was retiring to his home in Huntsville, Tennessee where
he respectfully planted the seedling. About five years ago, First Lady Michele Obama carried an historic magnolia
tree seedling from the White House to the Department of Agriculture to be planted in the first of many community
gardens that will be grown at USDA facilities worldwide.
The current White House collection is comprised of 37 official commemorative plantings by presidents and
first ladies, with more than half the trees representing species native to eastern North America. White and willow
oaks, American elms, southern magnolias, and flowering dogwoods dominate. The White House commemorative
tree collection is interspersed with hundreds of other specimen trees within the 18 fenced acres of the executive
mansion grounds.
© 2014 The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
How and where did it all begin?
It was George Washington himself who selected the site for the White House and its extensive gardens,
which would be known as “Presidents’ Park.” He purchased the land from a tobacco planter named Davy Burns,
while the North grounds originally belonged to the Pierce family.
But it was the first resident of the White House, John Adams, who ordered a vegetable garden to be planted;
yet, by the time the garden began to produce, a new resident of the White House would make a lasting impact on
the botanical footprint of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. His name was Thomas Jefferson.
For Jefferson, trees were on the top of the agenda – sycamore, poplar, cedar, and oak -as he undertook
a complete redesign of the garden. Sadly, none of Jefferson’s trees is believed to have survived to the present
day. It is also believed that Jefferson planted window boxes throughout the property from which strawberries and
geraniums cascaded down the façade of the building.
After the war of 1812 when the White House was rebuilt, more trees were planted according to the design
established by architect Charles Bullfinch.
White House Gardens 1831
It was the sixth American president, John Quincy Adams, who found pleasure and recreation in digging in
the dirt himself. He took Jefferson’s layout for the flower gardens and developed it. He was the first to plant
ornamental trees, known as “the tree-planting Mr. Adams.” It was confirmed, that one of his American elms
survived at the White House until 1991. A young tree propagated from the original 1826 elm was planted on the
South Lawn by First Lady Barbara Bush.
Beyond our domestic tree varieties, Adams had the Secretary of the Treasury send to every U.S. consul
around the world a circular announcing the president’s project to collect “forest trees useful as timber; grain of any
description; fruit trees; vegetables for the table; esculent roots; and, in short, plants of whatever nature whether
useful as food for man or the domestic animals, or for purposes connected with manufacturers or any of the useful
arts … “This mirrored Jefferson’s earlier tactics to import plants and seeds valuable to the new American nation.
Within three months, American ship captains began to deliver seeds and saplings from all over the world.
Soon, Adams had tiny forests growing in both Washington and at his house in Quincy, Massachusetts: Spanish
chestnuts, cork oak, English oaks, buttonwoods, elms, tamarinds, pears, shag-bark walnuts, horse chestnuts,
hickories, persimmons, tulip poplars, and limes. By 1828, his White House efforts boasted over 700 saplings of
20 varieties.
© 2014 The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
In early June 1827, Adams wrote in his diary about his plantings at the White House, in the ground and in
pots. Sadly, much of his horticultural work went for naught when Adams left office. Andrew Jackson entered the
White House with a raucous and rowdy inaugural party which left not only the White House in a shambles, but
much of Adams’ work trampled. The damage extended well after the party was over. Adams, whose relationship
to Jackson was unpleasant to say the least, suspected that the destruction of his plantings may have been a
deliberate political message from Jackson supporters to eradicate Adams’ political legacy.
The greening of the White House continued as Jackson developed the first “orangery” an early type of
greenhouse where tropical fruit trees and flowers could be grown. In 1835, in a symbolic and now historic
gesture, he planted magnolia trees in honor of his wife, Rachel, who had passed away just months before.
The Andrew Jackson Magnolia
Where did all the fountains come from? It was President Ulysses S. Grant who directed the expansion of the
grounds to the south and built round pools on the North and South lawns.
For the nation’s centennial in 1876, President Hayes began the tradition of planting commemorative trees.
Oaks were perennial favorites even before the national tree designation. Herbert Hoover planted a white oak in
1931. Dwight D. Eisenhower planted a northern red oak in 1959. Willow oaks, prized for fast growth and yellow to
yellow-brown fall color, were planted by presidents Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
By 1902, the focus switched to flowers under the direction of Edith Roosevelt who designed a colonial
garden, only to be replaced by Ellen Wilson’s Rose Garden in 1913.
Then in 1961, President Kennedy had the Rose Garden, located just outside the Oval Office, redesigned
to use it as a venue for outdoor ceremonies. The East Garden did not escape his critical eyes as he ordered it to
be reworked but that task was not completed until the Johnson administration. Respectfully, Lady Bird Johnson
dedicated the East Garden to Jackie Kennedy.
Mrs. Johnson’s love of nature continued to emerge through the White House Gardens as she created
the first Children’s Garden at the White House with a fish pond, paving stones with castings of handprints and
footprints of grandchildren from presidential ancestry. Here’s a letter she wrote to White House Curator, James
Ketchum:
© 2014 The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
On Easter Monday, the President and First Lady open the gates to throngs of children who come to the
traditional Easter Egg Roll. This event originally started at the Capitol and was moved to the White House by
President Hayes in 1879. Mrs. Reagan expanded the event by introducing a collection of wooden eggs painted by
famous artists and illustrators. By 1988, it was estimated that Nancy Reagan’s Easter Egg Roll attracted 35,000
visitors to the White House.
© 2014 The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
Today, the grounds and crew of the White House consists of 13 regular staff, along with a chief
horticulturalist who is a member of the executive residence staff. In addition, 10 other individuals of the National
Park Service – a foreman, 8 gardeners, and 1 maintenance operator – preserve the beauty of our national
residence.
President Reagan and Mrs. Reagan celebrated the history of the White House Gardens and often quoted
lines from this poem by 19th century poet, Henry Cuyler Bunner, “The Heart of the Tree”:
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants, in sap and leaf and wood,
In love of home and loyalty
And far-cast thought of civic good -His blessings on the neighborhood
Who in the hollow of His hand
Holds all the growth of all our land -A nation’s growth from sea to sea
Stirs in his heart who plants a tree.
© 2014 The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. All Rights Reserved.