The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden

(The White House sous-chef clips rosemary to use in an upcoming dinner in 2007)

The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden is located at the White House south of the East Colonnade. The garden balances the Rose Garden on the west side of the White House Complex.

Some History:

Edith Carow Roosevelt, who had established her “Colonial Garden” on the site of the present Rose Garden, oversaw a similar but less formal planting on the east side, the site of the present Jacqueline Kennedy Garden. The origins of the Garden’s present form initially began in 1913 with First Lady Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, at the time taking to calling it the East Garden, which saw Mrs. Wilson’s design featuring a modest central lily pond. However, this work on the Garden was not completed until after the first lady had died in 1914, resulting in an area 36 by 19 meters (118×62 feet).

In the nearly half a century which followed, the grounds to the White House fell into disrepair. When the Kennedy administration came to office the ill-kempt state of the gardens drew the focus of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who worked with Rachel Lambert Mellon and Perry Wheeler on the redesign and replanting of the entire Rose and East Gardens. By the time of President Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963, the Rose Garden had been completed, while revitalization on the East Garden was still a work in progress. To further honor Jacqueline Kennedy’s contributions to the White House and its grounds, her immediate successor, First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, renamed the East Garden as the “Jacqueline Kennedy Garden” during a ceremony on 22 April 1965.

The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, like the Rose Garden, is based on a traditional 18th century American garden.

Rachel Lambert Mellon created a space with a more defined central lawn, bordered by flower beds planted in a French style, but largely using American botanical specimens. Though more formal than the previous East Garden, the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden pays tribute to Beatrix Farrand’s work in its use of a more organic structure, planting m

The garden has a large fescue grass panel in the center and is framed on the north and south sides by a holly hedge. The East Colonnade, located on the garden’s north side, is lined by a row of linden trees. Planting beds, bordered by boxwoods, are filled with tulips, pansies and grape hyacinth. Rosemary, thyme, and other herbs, planted under the eight American holly trees, are regularly used by the White House chefs.

Like the Rose Garden, the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden is used for events. The president uses the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden for awards ceremonies. Both Lady Bird Johnson and Pat Nixon favored use of the garden for parties and teas.

First Lady Hillary Clinton exhibited contemporary sculpture in the garden.

 

 

( The garden 1966 )

My notes: When I was researching the ROSE GARDEN, I found this article

about the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, which I knew little to nothing about.

I hope you are enlightened, too, because I LOVE GARDENS, especially  the ones

with ROSES.

By Barbara KisKis

July 28, 2020