The White House Rose Garden is located next to the Oval Office and West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C. Measuring about 125 feet long and 60 feet wide, it complements the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on the White House's east side. Due to its location, the Rose Garden is frequently used for receptions and media events.
In 1902, during the Roosevelt renovation of the White House, First Lady Edith Roosevelt established a "proper colonial garden" in place of the conservatory rose house.
In 1913, the White House Rose Garden was established by Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, wife of Woodrow Wilson, and designed by landscape architect George Burnap.
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt commissioned Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. to redesign the garden, and Olmsted installed cast iron furniture pieces.
In 1961, during the John F. Kennedy administration, the garden was largely redesigned by Rachel Lambert Mellon. Mellon created a space with a more defined central lawn, bordered by flower beds that were planted in a French formal garden style while largely using American botanical specimens.
In 1971, the wedding of President Richard Nixon's daughter Tricia to Edward F. Cox took place in the Rose Garden.
Beginning in 1979, Jimmy Carter's initial efforts to end the Iran hostage crisis (1979–1981) were a Rose Garden strategy because he mostly held discussions with his close advisers in the White House rather than traveling to elicit public support.
The flower beds include the Pope John Paul II Rose in honor of the first time a pope visited the White House in 1979.
Beginning in 1979, Jimmy Carter's initial efforts to end the Iran hostage crisis (1979–1981) were a Rose Garden strategy because he mostly held discussions with his close advisers in the White House rather than traveling to elicit public support.
President George W. Bush welcomed the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes to the Rose Garden after their victory in 2006.
In 2019, the 'Katherine' crabapples were replaced with a white-flowering variety called Spring Snow, which did not do well.
In August 2020, First Lady Melania Trump commissioned a renovation of the garden. The crabapple trees, added during the Kennedy redesign, were relocated elsewhere on the White House grounds as the newer trees were failing to thrive.
In August 2020, First Lady Melania Trump gave a speech for the second night of the 2020 Republican National Convention in the Rose Garden before an audience of 70 people.
On September 26, 2020, President Donald Trump announced his Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett in a ceremony in the Rose Garden. Following the event, several attendees tested positive for COVID-19, including Trump himself.
In November 2020, the abstract sculpture Floor Frame by Isamu Noguchi was unveiled by Melania Trump and Stewart McLaurin. It was the first art work by an Asian American artist to enter the official collection of the White House.
Until 2020 the garden followed the same layout first established by Mellon, where each flower bed was planted with a series of pale pink 'Katherine' crabapples and Littleleaf lindens bordered by low diamond-shaped hedges of thyme.