Storied but sickly, historic White House magnolia to come down
A magnolia tree, known as the Jackson Magnolia, stands alongside the South Portico of the White House in Washington, DC, January 5, 2018, following a major trimming due to concerns about the tree’s health and long-term viability. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON — An enormous tree known as the Jackson Magnolia which has shaded the White House’s South Portico for the majority of US presidencies will be taken down this week, Donald Trump said Sunday.
Arborists have struggled for years to keep alive the sickly southern magnolia, whose striking figure marks a focal point along the building’s southern facade.
According to tradition, the tree was planted by former president Andrew Jackson to commemorate his wife who died just before his swearing-in in 1829. It was purportedly a sapling brought from his home in Tennessee.
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The tree is the oldest on the White House grounds, according to the National Park Service, which notes that starting in the 1870s most presidents began installing their own commemorative trees.
“The bad news is that everything must come to an end,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, explaining that the magnolia was “in terrible condition, a very dangerous safety hazard, at the White House Entrance, no less, and must now be removed.”
Trump said the historic magnolia would be replaced by “another, very beautiful tree” and that its wood would be preserved “and may be used for other high and noble purposes.”
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The White House gardens already made headlines earlier this year when Trump said he was planning to pave over the famed Rose Garden that the Oval Office overlooks, to give it the patio-like feel of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
“The grass just doesn’t work,” Trump told Fox News, adding that it gets “soaking wet.”
During Trump’s first term, his wife Melania oversaw a renovation of the Rose Garden, controversially rearranging the fabled plot’s traditional design.
