Trump White House Begins Paving Over Rose Garden 5 Years After Melania's Controversial Redesign
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump began their latest White House renovation on June 9, which involves paving over the Rose Garden lawn.
The garden area is used to host press conferences, dignitaries, sports teams and special events, and the president has explained that the soft ground can cause people to fall.
The president has also promised to self-fund the addition of two massive flagpoles, one on each side of the White House.President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump began their latest White House renovations on Monday, June 9, as workers broke ground to begin paving over parts of the historic Rose Garden.
Photos of the initial construction show a grassy area being dug up and parts of a limestone border — installed by Melania during her husband's first term in office — being moved so that workers can lay down a concrete surface within the border.
In a March interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, Trump explained his reasoning for turning the grass lawn into something of a presidential patio in the style of Mar-a-Lago.
'You know, we use [the Rose Garden] for press conferences, and it doesn't work because the people fall,' he said. The terrain can be wet, and the soft ground can be an issue for some, Trump added. "Women, with the high heels, it just didn't work.'
A White House official described the new construction as a "restoration" and assured PEOPLE that the first couple "have deep respect for the history of the White House and for the Rose Garden."
"This restoration to the Rose Garden preserves the beauty of the space and builds on the work done in 2020," the official said, "with a focus on enhancing practical use and guest experience for those attending special events.'
In addition to paving over the grass, the project reportedly includes audio and visual upgrades, as well as the installation of two new flag poles on the North and South Lawns.
The updates — which are being completed by the National Park Service and funded by the Trust for the National Mall — are expected to be finished by mid-August 2025.
Melania faced significant backlash when she initially redid the Rose Garden in 2020. The first lady even made a rare public statement after NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss described her botanical vision as 'grim.'
"Evisceration of White House Rose Garden was completed a year ago this month, and here was the grim result—decades of American history made to disappear," Beschloss said in 2021, referencing the limestone border Melania laid down in the outdoor space, which often hosts speeches and receptions for visiting dignitaries, sports teams and more.
Melania's office fired back at Beschloss on X, sharing a different photo that showed the garden was in full bloom.
".@BeschlossDC has proven his ignorance by showing a picture of the Rose Garden in its infancy. The Rose Garden is graced with a healthy & colorful blossoming of roses," they wrote at the time. "His misleading information is dishonorable & he should never be trusted as a professional historian."
Amid news of the latest changes to the garden, a White House official explained to PEOPLE that the 2020 renovation was an attempt to restore the Rose Garden to the design envisioned by Bunny Mellon, who redesigned the outdoor space in 1961 at the request of President John F. Kennedy.
The ensuing years have seen the roses fail to thrive — only 12 bushes remained when Melania added over 200. The 2020 work also aimed to improve drainage and increase the amount of sunlight each plant received.
Trump announced in April that he would be personally funding the addition of two 'beautiful' 100-foot flagpoles — one on the North Lawn and one on the South Lawn.
'They've needed flagpoles for 200 years,' he told reporters at the time, despite that the American flag and POW/MIA flag fly atop the White House on a flagpole each day.
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