WASHINGTON ― For more than 60 years, the White House Rose Garden has showcased the prestige of the American presidency.
The iconic setting has hosted leaders of rival nations signing peace treaties, presidential press conferences, meetings with foreign heads of state, landmark bill signings, a wedding of a sitting president's daughter, swearing-in ceremonies of Supreme Court justices, turkey pardons and even a "beer summit."
Now the Rose Garden, situated outside the Oval Office along the West Wing, enters a new era after President Donald Trump ordered the garden's manicured grass be paved over. The controversial overhaul, recently completed, has turned one of the garden's most striking features into a stone patio, while maintaining rose bushes and other vegetation on the garden's periphery.
More: President Trump relishes new 'very white' paved-over Rose Garden
Trump told reporters on Aug. 3 he's heard "great reviews" about the renovated Rose Garden, arguing that "we had to do it" because the grass often turned wet and muddy after rainfall, making it difficult to host events.
